Port Gawler Mangrove Snorkel
LOCATION Port Gawler, Adelaide, South Australia
DEPTH 1-3 Meters
WATER TEMP 17-24 Degrees
DIFFICULTY Medium
You need to be able to keep your feet up to avoid stirring up the bottom
FEATURE
Google Map data © 2024 Imagery © Airbus, CNES / Airbus, Maxar Technologies
Port Gawler Mangrove Snorkel
LOCATION Port Gawler, Adelaide, South Australia
DEPTH 1-3 Meters
WATER TEMP 17-24 Degrees
DIFFICULTY Medium
You need to be able to keep your feet up to avoid stirring up the bottom
FEATURE
Google Map data © 2024 Imagery © Airbus, CNES / Airbus, Maxar Technologies
Port Gawler Mangrove Snorkel
If you are looking for a snorkel with a difference, have a look around a mangrove forest. The Port Gawler Mangroves north of Adelaide is a unique environment. Drift along river channels surrounded by mangroves and spot crabs and schools of fish along the banks. There is easy access from a pontoon and no waves to worry about in the sheltered setting.
What Can I See?
- Mangroves are a fish nursery so there are lots of smaller fish. You might spot a stingray on the sand bottom. Lots of crabs here too.
Getting There
The Port Gawler Pontoon is about 50km and 45 minutes north of Adelaide. Head out on Port Wakefield Road and look for the turn off to Port Gawler Road to your left (if you are coming form Adelaide). When you start driving through salt pans you are getting close! At the end of the road is a small car park.
Where & How do you get in?
You’ll see the river from the car park and entry is from a pontoon that has a ladder. There are 3 channels. The channel that follows the road gets a bit shallow. We followed the channel that goes off to the almost straight in front of you and a bit to the left as you look at the water from the pontoon.
Best Season
No seasonal considerations here. Warmer water is from December to March. You will need a wetsuit outside of then.
Potential Hazards
- Currents
How Busy / Crowds
- It is fair to say this is not one of Adelaide’s go to snorkel spots. However, it is unique enough Experiencing Marine Sanctuaries run tours here. If you want the place to yourself, best avoid when they are here – unless of course you want to join the tour.
Parking
- Available next to the pontoon
The information for each snorkel spot is provided by people who have snorkelled there. However, snorkelling conditions change daily. Please be aware that wind, swell, tides and cloud cover can all affect visibility and your experience in the water.
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Rate this Snorkel Spot
If you have snorkelled here, rate your experience
Tours
We haven’t done it, but Experiencing Marine Sanctuaries do tours here
Best Conditions
This is a sheltered spot but the very nature of the environment means that you do get currents here as the tide goes in and out, inundating the mangrove’s aerial roots. Aim to snorkel here at the bottom of low tide.
Windy Map Instructions – Click on the wind icon in the top right to see other conditions such as swell, temperature, rain. To clear the four day forecast click and close the wind icon.
Facilities at Port Gawler
You are a fair way from anything here. Anything you need, bring with you.
Parking
Shade
About the Snorkel
We have done plenty of reef and jetty snorkels, so exploring this unique habitat was really fun. Usually, you only get to see mangroves from a boardwalk so seeing them from the water, and the marine life that lives around them, was a very cool perspective.
We hadn’t snorkelled here before so had to learn how to approach this snorkel as we did it. The first thing to know is how easy it is to stir up the bottom of the silty river channel. This is definitely a snorkel for people who can keep their feet off the bottom.
Once we got in the water from the pontoon, we quickly realised visibility was terrible on the shaded side of the channel so definitely swim on the sunny side if there is an option. And we found snorkelling in the middle of the channel was a bit awkward, with no real features to focus on it is quite disconcerting.
All that said, we still had a lot of fun and there was a lot to see. There were crabs everywhere for our summer snorkel. You can see why mangroves are regarded as a fish nursery, there were many schools of small fish too. They were darting around us from the moment we slid into the water.
Some of the best viewing was done around and under the submerged tree roots or fallen trees. They were often where we saw the biggest schools of fish. We did the snorkel at the turn of low tide, and it was great getting a view of the mangrove’s pneumatophores from the water.
We snorkelled up the main channel then back down the way we came. We checked the shady side a couple of times but just couldn’t see a thing over there. You want to take it nice and slow so you don’t stir up the bottom but if you are after a snorkel with a difference the Port Gawler Mangroves is worth a look.
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