Norman Bay South is the shore dive at the Tidal River end of Wilsons Promontory – the reef along the northern side of Norman Point at the southern end of the campground beach – and it is the most convenient scuba site on the Prom, though convenience is relative: it is still a kilometre's walk along the sand from the car park. Scuba Doctor lists it at 5–18 m for Open Water divers and describes boulder formations that create small caves and hollows before reaching a sandy bottom, with abundant fish and small marine invertebrates. The boulders are granite, rounded and stacked along the foot of the point, with kelp and algae on top and shaded hollows underneath in which bullseyes, blue devils, crayfish and abalone (all protected in the marine national park) and decorator crabs shelter; wrasse, leatherjackets, morwong, old wives, sweep and zebrafish move over the reef, stingarees and flathead lie on the sand, and weedy seadragons are seen along the weed edge.

The clear western-Prom water gives the dive its quality – on a calm day the granite and white sand glow – and Norman Bay's beach is one of the safest places to stage and exit on the Prom, with the campground's facilities close by. The site is also a very good snorkel from the beach, and Parks Victoria's park note names the southern flank of Norman Bay as a shore-based snorkelling spot on calm days. The constraints are the same as everywhere on this coast: it needs an easterly-wind, low-swell day, surf and rips make the beach dangerous in any sea, and surge and current build towards the tip of Norman Point, so the dive stays in the bay.

Norman Bay South is the natural first dive for anyone camping at Tidal River with dive gear and the Prom's best combination of access, clarity and scenery from shore.

From the Norman Bay day car park at Tidal River (3 hours from Melbourne, park fee) walk south along the beach for about 1 km to the rocks at the southern end below Norman Point – 15–20 minutes on firm sand with gear. Enter from the sand beside the rocks and swim out along the granite towards the point. Scuba Doctor recommends a boat for scuba because of the distance in full gear; the Tidal River beach launch is at the other end of the same beach and a boat can drop divers at the point in minutes.

Norman Bay is a surf beach open to the south-west; the dive needs calm seas with minimal swell, ideally on an easterly or light northerly, and should be avoided in moderate to strong onshore south-westerly to north-westerly winds. Surge and current strengthen away from the shore and at the tip of the point, so dive at slack water (Norman Point tide predictions) and keep inside the bay. Rips run along the rocks in any surf.

Summer and autumn.

Enter beside the rocks at the southern end of the beach, follow the boulders seaward with the rock on your left towards Norman Point, exploring the small caves and hollows, to a maximum of 15–18 m at the sand. Turn before the tip of the point, return along the boulders at 5–8 m with the rock on your right and exit onto the beach.

No operator. Shore dives and snorkels done by campers at Tidal River and by clubs (Dive La Trobe, VSAG, Melbourne University Underwater Club) on Prom camping trips; No air fills at Tidal River or Port Welshpool; the nearest compressor is roughly 100 km away (Melbourne's south-east or Inverloch/Leongatha area by arrangement) – bring all cylinders or a portable compressor