Port Noarlunga Jetty & Reef

South Australia’s most popular dive site – only a 30 minute drive from the city!

About Port Noalunga Reef

Port Noarlunga Jetty and Reef is by far South Australia’s most frequented dive site. It’s an instructors’ favourite for scuba training thanks to the convenient location close to the Adelaide CBD.

There are several entry and exit points at the site, the closest being a beach entry. However, strong waves and the fact it stays shallow for a while when you’re walking in from the beach, makes the two jetty stairs the preferred method of entry for most divers at this site. The reef itself is the best part of this dive (although the jetty itself can be a very good night dive!), so the most popular entry point is the stairs all the way at the end of the jetty.

Be prepared for a bit of a walk when you’re diving this site, especially if you’re jumping in from the last mentioned stairs, as the jetty itself is about 300 metres long and, as parking is limited at the base of the jetty, you’ll usually end up parking in the big car park, which adds an extra 100 metres to the walk.

Send us an e-mail with your preferred date(s) and we will get back to you shortly!

Guided Dive Pricing (2 Dives)

Diving Adelaide works a progressive pricing system! Sign up with one or more friends for a double guided dive at Noarlunga and receive big discounts for each friend that you sign up with (each)! Not only will this make the dives more fun, it also assures you that you are getting the best value for money!

The pricing structure is as follows:

$199 Standard Course Price
$135 Bring 1 friend – Save $64 per person
$125 Bring 2 friends – Save $74 per person
$109 Bring 3 friends – Save $90 per person

Refresher Courses

If you haven’t dived for a while, it’s a good idea to book in for a 2-dive refresher! We run refresher courses at Port Noarlunga any day of the week. For more information, see the Refresher Course page!

Standard Guided Dives Schedule

We can run guided dives at Noarlunga on any day of the week! Simply send us an email with your preferred date and we will book you in right away (subject to instructor availability).

Full Day

9:00AM-5:00PM

2 Ocean Dives

Your day starts at the dive centre where you will fit your rental gear and meet your friendly & professional PADI Instructor or Divemaster. After filling out the paperwork and packing up a company van, you will drive to the dive site and do 2 dives. Your dive guide for the day will discuss recent sightings at the reef and the details of the dive during the drive down.

Things to bring:

Certification Card
Swimmers, Towel, Water & Sunscreen

Booking Process: Simply click on the button below to send us an email with your preferred diving date(s). Please include your contact number. We will then send you a booking confirmation email with an online payment link right away, so you can confirm your booking online!

Port Noarlunga Marine Life

Port Noarlunga Jetty and Reef get big visitors sometimes, such as (harmless) Port Jackson and Wobbegong Sharks, the occasional dolphin and sometimes even a whale may make its way to the inside of the reef!

There is also a lot of fish under the jetty and the reef and you will run into small rays quite often.

In season, adult and baby Port Jacksons are a common sight (Nov-Jan), which is a main attraction at that time of the year!

For macro photographers, there is even more good news, as over 50 species of nudibranchs have been documented on the reef and small critters like flatworms, blue ring octopuses, sand octopuses and pipefish can be found all over the reef as well!

Unguided Dives on the Reef

The Port Noarlunga Reef is an incredibly easy reef to dive on. Simply hold the reef to one shoulder on the way out and to the other on the way back in. Once you get to the reef from the jetty, you can go south (left) to follow the underwater trail that is set up here. There are 12 markers on the sea floor that display interesting information about the reef and the reef life. You can also head north (right) and follow the reef that way. It’s very easy to navigate, as you simply keep the reef to one side on the way out and on the other side on the way back in. You can’t miss the jetty on your way back in, so finding your way back to the exit point has never been easier.

On a high tide you can climb over the reef and jump in on the other side. If you’re good on your air you can then dive back to the jetty, either by going through the gap (south) or around the northern end of the reef. The currents that run through the gap can be quite strong and it gets quite deep there as well (approximately 20 metres).

The average depth of the dive site is about 6 metres. If you enter from the first set of stairs, it’s about 3 metres deep and if you enter at the end of the jetty it’s about 6 metres deep. If it’s nice diving weather, there are always fishermen on the jetty as well, so if you are entering from the beach or from the first set of stairs, the safest way of diving is to stay underneath the jetty during your dive. We recommend having a dive knife on you and keeping an eye out for (loose) fishing lines.

On this dive you will see South Australia’s usual suspects, such as the old wive, silver sweep, moonlighter, zebrafish and common stingrays and if you look closely enough, you will find hermit crabs, nudibranchs (there are over 50 different species on Port Noarlunga Reef), seahorses, flatworms and pipefish (the sawtooth pipefish hides in the crevices). Not uncommon on the reef are blue devil fish (in the gap), cuttlefish, wobbegong sharks (mainly on the outside of the reef), port jackson sharks and occasionally a leafy sea dragon in the weeds at the northern tip of the reef.

To dive the reef unguided, simply book in your rental gear (if required) via our online rental gear portal!