Point Turton is a small fishing town on the northern side of the southern Yorke Peninsula 'foot', and its long jetty is the dive most Adelaide divers fall back on when the south coast is blown out. The Dive Shack rates it a novice site to 6 m whose sheltered location permits year-round diving, and highlights it as an excellent night dive. The jetty runs a long way out over a mix of sand, seagrass and small rocky outcrops, and the Marine Life Society notes that at times there are lots of fish around the outcrops under the jetty.

The piles are encrusted with sponges, ascidians and algae that host nudibranchs in good variety. Visitor information lists abalone, crayfish, Port Jackson sharks, stingrays, dumpling squid, slipper lobsters and nudibranchs, and the SDFSA adds blue-ringed octopus – a reminder to look but not touch. After dark the jetty comes alive: pyjama squid and dumpling squid emerge from the sand, gobies and blennies peer from holes, worms and shrimps crawl over the piles, slipper lobsters and octopus hunt, and southern calamari hover in torchlight.

It is the kind of site where a slow, patient dive yields more with every visit. Its great virtue is reliability. When south-westerly fronts close Stenhouse Bay, Innes and Troubridge, Point Turton usually remains diveable, making it a staple of lower Yorke Peninsula dive weekends.

It suits newly certified divers, night-dive beginners, macro photographers and anyone wanting a relaxed long dive in shallow water. Extended dives into the surrounding bay are possible for those who want to explore beyond the jetty.

From Adelaide drive about 250 km (3 hours) via Minlaton and Warooka, turning north to Point Turton. The jetty is on the foreshore in town beside the boat ramp and caravan park; park at the jetty head. Enter by the jetty steps or ladder, or walk in from the beach alongside at higher tides, then fin out along the piles.

The jetty is long, so plan air for the swim out to the deeper outer section.

Point Turton faces north-east into Hardwicke Bay, so it is sheltered from the prevailing south-westerly swell and winds that close the Innes and southern coast sites – which is why it is the peninsula's classic bad-weather dive. Strong northerly or north-easterly winds blow onshore here and stir up the silty bottom, reducing visibility; south and south-westerly winds blow offshore and give the calmest water. Tides are modest, but the inner section is shallow at low water.

Summer sea breezes rarely affect it much.

Fin out along the jetty to the outer end at 5-6 m, working the piles and rocky outcrops under the jetty for macro life, then return on the other side. On night dives, slow down around the pile bases and the sand for pyjama squid, slipper lobsters and hunting octopus.

No resident dive operator; heavily used by independent divers and by Adelaide shops and clubs as the sheltered option on lower Yorke Peninsula weekends, especially for night dives.