Dive with marine life · 2026 guide
Cryptic, slow and protected — jetty piles and sponge gardens are where to look.
Resident year-round at established sites.
These 7 sites are where seahorses & pipefish encounters are best documented, with the operators who dive them.
1Yorke Peninsula & Edithburgh, South Australia
One of the world's great muck dives — an unremarkable jetty hiding extraordinary small life.
Jetty sites are often described as easy because access is from shore. That can be misleading, and Edithburgh illustrates why: shallow does not mean trivial, and the best diving here happens at night.
Look for: Giant Australian Cuttlefish, Leafy Seadragon, Nudibranchs, Seahorses & Pipefish
Full Edithburgh Jetty guide →2Newcastle, Nelson Bay & Port Stephens, New South Wales
A protected sponge garden at Nelson Bay with some of the richest macro life in Australia.
The sponge gardens hold an extraordinary density of small life, and the protection means the fish are habituated and the habitat is intact.
Look for: Nudibranchs, Seahorses & Pipefish
3Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Victoria's most popular pier dive, and the best-known site for giant spider crab aggregations.
It is best known internationally for the giant spider crab aggregation, when tens of thousands of crabs gather in the shallows to moult.
Look for: Giant Spider Crab, Nudibranchs, Seahorses & Pipefish, Weedy Seadragon
Full Blairgowrie Pier guide →
4Hobart, Tasmania
Sheltered channel diving near Hobart, with jetties, reefs and handfish habitat.
Sites include jetties, reef systems and wrecks, with the channel's cold, nutrient-rich water supporting dense temperate life.
Look for: Giant Kelp Forest, Seahorses & Pipefish, Spotted Handfish, Weedy Seadragon
Full D'Entrecasteaux Channel guide →
5Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
A shallow, sheltered pier known for seahorses, seadragons and night diving.
The piles and surrounding sand hold seahorses, weedy seadragons, octopus and an excellent range of macro subjects, and the site is heavily used for training.
Look for: Giant Spider Crab, Nudibranchs, Seahorses & Pipefish, Weedy Seadragon
Full Rye Pier guide →6Newcastle, Nelson Bay & Port Stephens, New South Wales
Fly Point's neighbour — sponge gardens and macro life within the same protected reserve.
It is often dived as an alternative when Fly Point is busy, or as a second dive, and holds the same extraordinary macro diversity.
Look for: Nudibranchs, Seahorses & Pipefish
7Melbourne, Victoria
The bay's network of pier dives — the accessible heart of Victorian diving.
They provide access to seahorses, weedy seadragons, rays, squid, crustaceans and dense macro life, often in only a few metres of water.
Look for: Giant Spider Crab, Seahorses & Pipefish, Weedy Seadragon
Full Port Phillip Piers guide →Sites are chosen from our dive-site database and ordered by how well documented they are: flagship status, the number of operators we have confirmed dive there, and the marine life recorded. Nobody pays to be listed.
No. Listings and order come from our research only. Businesses can ask us to correct their details, but not to change their position.
It is generated from the directory's latest research, checked in 2026. Conditions, operators and seasons change — confirm details with the operator before you book.