Port Pirie is a major industrial city dominated by the lead and zinc smelter that has operated since the late nineteenth century, and its waterfront is a working port on a shallow, mangrove-fringed estuary. It is included here only because the regional brief names it; there is no documented dive site at Port Pirie in any directory consulted (SDFSA, Marine Life Society, dive shops). The waters around the city are shallow tidal flats and channels with silty bottoms and very low visibility.

The historic smelter has also left elevated levels of heavy metals in sediments close to the port, and local advice has long discouraged harvesting shellfish near the city; divers should not treat the estuary as a recreational dive area. Solomontown Beach, on the southern side of town, has a small jetty and swimming area used by locals in summer, where blue swimmer crabs, small fish and seagrass fauna can be seen at high tide. Dolphins frequent the river and gulf.

For divers, Port Pirie is best thought of as a road stop on the way to Whyalla (about 1.5 hours further west via Port Augusta) and the giant cuttlefish aggregation. Divers travelling this way can fill cylinders and hire gear at Whyalla, and should allow for the cold water of the cuttlefish season when packing.

Port Pirie is about 225 km (2.5 hours) north of Adelaide on the Augusta Highway. Solomontown Beach, with its small jetty and swimming area, is on the southern side of the city off the Esplanade. Park on the foreshore.

The area is shallow mangrove-fringed estuary and tidal flat; only high tide gives any depth.

Port Pirie sits on a shallow estuary at the head of Spencer Gulf with large tides, mangroves and silty flats. Visibility is usually poor at any time, worse on a running tide or in wind. It is not a diving area; the city is a base for travel to the Whyalla cuttlefish coast across the gulf.

Not recommended for scuba. Swimming at the Solomontown Beach enclosure at high tide only.

No operator; not a dive destination.