The South Road reefs are a compact cluster of natural sandstone reef, a small bommie and the piles of the demolished Brighton Beach Baths (also called the Kennett Baths) lying off the Brighton foreshore just south of South Road. The baths were one of several enclosed sea baths along this shore in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the structure is long gone but the stumps of its piles remain on the sand in 4-6 m and have become a modest artificial reef, encrusted with sponges, sea squirts and algae and surrounded by fish. The natural reef between the piles and the shore is a low broken platform with ledges and gutters in 2-5 m, and the bommie is the highest piece of it.

The fauna is typical of the better inner-bayside reefs: snapper (juvenile pinkies in summer), leatherjackets, wrasse, zebrafish, moonlighters, sea urchins and cushion stars on the rock, seahorses in the weed, stingrays, fiddler rays and flathead on the sand, and octopus in the holes, particularly at night. It is a good site for practising compass navigation because the two legs of the dive follow set bearings, and it is a good night dive because the entry is straightforward and the reef is close in. The main things to watch are depth over the inner reef at low tide and the stingrays that lie on the sand between the reef and the beach.

With Green Point a few hundred metres north and Middle Brighton Pier 2 km up the road, South Road rounds out a set of shore dives that can fill a day within the one suburb.

Coming south on Beach Road, turn left at South Road and cross the railway line; the car park is immediately on the right (ticketed). Walk back across the railway and Beach Road with care, go through the gate in the concrete barrier and down the steps to the beach; the carry is about 150 m. Enter from the sand.

Heading 240 degrees takes you out to the remains of the old Brighton Beach Baths (Kennett Baths) where you can spend about 40 minutes; a 120-degree heading from there brings you back over the natural reef for the return. Exit at the same steps. Green Point is 400 m north-west if you prefer that entry.

Diveable in northerlies and slight southerlies; avoid westerlies and strong southerlies, which push chop and silt onto this open shore. Conditions are generally better in summer and autumn. Dive on a rising tide toward high water for the best clarity and enough depth over the inner reef.

Visibility 3-6 m on a good day, reduced after rain. No swell. Boats run close inshore so tow a flag.

Enter at the steps, swim out on 240 degrees to the old baths piles (4-6 m), circle the piles and bommie for up to 40 minutes, then take 120 degrees back across the natural reef, working the ledges, and ascend in the shallows in front of the steps. Turn at half gas regardless of position.

No regular commercial operator – dived independently and by Melbourne dive clubs and shop social-dive programs (Scuba Culture, Aquability, Melbourne Diving Services run occasional shore-dive nights at bayside piers); Ricketts Point-based snorkel tours run separately.