Spring Beach is one of the most popular easy shore dives on the lower east coast, an hour from Hobart. The Marine Life Network guide rates it 6 out of 10 and describes a headland dive with sandy areas and rocky reef to about 6 m, with banded stingarees, leatherjackets and a wide range of small creatures.

The reef-sand edge is the key habitat: stingarees and flathead on the sand, and wrasse, leatherjackets, magpie perch and small reef fish among the weed. Maria Island sits across Mercury Passage, making the setting attractive, and the shallow depth means long, relaxed dives. The site is often used by Hobart divers as an alternative when the Tasman Peninsula is rough.

It suits new divers, snorkellers and training groups.

The coast between Orford and Swansea is sheltered from the prevailing westerlies and faces Mercury Passage or Great Oyster Bay rather than the open ocean, so it offers easy, shallow diving within 1-2 hours of Hobart. The reefs are dolerite, sandstone and granite fringing rock with weed beds rather than the dramatic walls of Bicheno, and they are best treated as relaxed shore dives, snorkels and training sites.

Practical points apply to all of these shore sites. There is no dive shop, air station or hire between Hobart and Bicheno, so divers bring filled cylinders and all equipment. Mobile coverage is generally good along the highway but patchy at the water's edge, and the nearest hyperbaric chamber is the Royal Hobart Hospital, one to two hours' drive away, so conservative profiles and oxygen in the car are sensible. Water temperatures range from about 11 °C in winter to 17-18 °C in late summer, so a 7 mm wetsuit with hood or a drysuit is standard year-round.

Spring Beach is 4 km south of Orford off the Tasman Highway, about an hour (75 km) from Hobart. Follow Rheban Road from Orford to the Spring Beach car park; enter from the rocks at the northern or southern headland, a short carry of 50-100 m from the car. Choose the headland in the lee of the day's wind.

From Hobart the route is the Tasman Highway (A3) via Sorell and Buckland; allow extra time on weekends when the road is busy with holiday traffic. Kit up at the car and check the entry and exit before committing, since the rocks are slippery at low tide.

The Orford coast faces east across Mercury Passage, sheltered by Maria Island from most ocean swell, but north-easterly and easterly winds blow onshore and southerly swell can wrap in. Westerly winds blow offshore and give the calmest water. Visibility drops after rain when the Prosser River discharges.

The Marine Life Network guide advises avoiding it in rough weather; a light westerly is ideal. Mornings are usually calmest in summer, before the north-easterly sea breeze builds, and a day or two of westerly weather gives the clearest water. Visibility of 5-10 m is normal.

Enter at the headland and follow the reef edge where it meets the sand at 4-6 m, looking for stingarees and small invertebrates, then turn at half gas and return along the reef. Turn at a third of gas to allow for the swim back and a possibly harder exit, finish with a 3-minute safety stop at about 5 m if the depth allows, and exit where you entered unless an alternative exit has been checked beforehand.

No regular operator. Shore dives used by Hobart clubs (Tasmanian Scuba Diving Club, Tas Uni Dive Club) and self-sufficient divers; Hobart shops occasionally run east-coast weekends.