Port Noarlunga Reef & Jetty (Aquatic Reserve)
Port Noarlunga Reef Aquatic Reserve (about 527 ha, declared 1971, now inside Encounter Marine Park; fishing restricted) is a narrow reef roughly 400 m off the beach, about 1.6 km long and split by a gap called The Gap. It is reached from the 1921 timber jetty, which has three staircases, and an 800 m self-guided underwater trail with 12 plaques runs along the reef. Surveys record 83 marine plant species and 132 fish species. Port Noarlunga also has an artificial tyre reef (about 20 m), the tug H.A. Lumb and the MV Seawolf wrecks offshore, but their positions are not published in the sources checked.
Facts
- Region: Southern Australia – South Australia, Victoria & Tasmania
- Area: South Australia – Gulf St Vincent (Fleurieu, Adelaide)
- Level: beginner
- Current: low
- Type: shore, reef, jetty, snorkel
- Coordinates: -35.1492, 138.4635 (approximate)
- Highlights: underwater interpretive trail, reef fish, rays, sponges, seagrass
- Tips: Easy for beginners and snorkellers; follow the numbered plaques. Within the reserve fishing is limited to rod and handline from jetty/beach, none near the reef; take nothing. Check the current zone map in Encounter Marine Park. Position approximate (reef end of the jetty).