Tumby Bay Jetty

This is another one of South Australia’s great jetty dives! As it’s a little bit further away from Adelaide, it’s not as easy to reach as some of the other jetties, but it’s a fun one to do with a chance of seeing sea dragons (but not as good a chance as seeing them at Rapid Bay or The Bluff). This is our favourite jetty dive after Rapid Bay and Edithburgh.

We usually dive this when we’re on a weekend away in Whyalla in Winter to witness the giant cuttlefish migration. It’s still not a short drive from there (about 2.5 hours each way), but as we don’t get to dive it very often, it’s worth the drive!

The main drawing card here are the sea dragons. There are lots of weeds underneath and around the jetty, which create the perfect habitat for our leafy friends to move around unseen because of their amazing camouflage. You will also find nudibranchs and seahorses here, but unfortunately not that many fish! The growth on the jetty pylons is very similar to that of the old Rapid Bay jetty pylons, but the bottom is more weedy in most spots under the jetty and more sandy in others. There are not as many rocks in the sand as there are at Edithburgh and Rapid Bay, so there is not at much macro life here as you can find underneath those jetties.

We did however find two leafy sea dragons on our last dive here and one of them was massive(!). They only grow to about 45 cms across and the dragons we found were both about or close to that size! They do blend in very well with their surroundings here though, so they are not as easy to spot as at Rapid Bay Jetty or The Bluff in Victor Harbour, but they are just beautiful to watch once you’ve spotted one.

Entry and exit is very easy via one of the stairs, which are only a short walk from the car park at the base of the jetty!