J
ust how far would you travel to reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Well, for divers in South Australia, that distance is about 300km, or approximately three hour’s drive from Adelaide. The gold can be found on Yorke Peninsula in the sleepy town of Edithburgh – at the end of the main street, under the Jetty. Folklore tells us that at the end of every rainbow there is a pot of gold – but what IF that pot of gold IS a rainbow – a veritable kaleidoscope of colours and critters. That’s what you’ll find when you dive one of the best of the many Jetties that South Australia has to offer – Edithburgh Jetty. Instead of leprechauns and shamrocks, you’ll discover leafies and frogfish and a forest of candy-coloured pylons to explore. Ok, so you will need to take a leap of faith to make that trip if you have never been before. Admittedly, the trip down there isn’t exactly awe-inspiring. Grain and canola fields seem to roll on for days and the skies can often be grey and tumultuous. Halfway you start thinking to yourself “Where the hell am I?!” and “Is this really worth it!? – It’s much warmer at home!!” But as far as winter dive destinations go, Edithburgh is the place to be! It may be grey skies and sleepy streets above, but it’s a thriving, colourful metropolis below with an abundance of sea creatures and a rainbow of competing colours to warm and inspire you. Looking on the map Edithburgh is located at the southeast end of Yorke Peninsula - not the first place you would think for worldclass macro diving – but you could spend days exploring this Jetty and still find something new every dive. There’s been many a dive where I’ve hardly made it more than a few pylons down after a few hours of diving – there’s just so much to see. When the conditions are right, it really is that good! So, what makes Edithburgh Jetty the pot of gold AND the rainbow? Well, it has a lot to do with its location in the Great Southern Reef and its structure and the life this combination brings. Sitting at the bottom of Yorke Peninsula, Edithburgh Jetty dips its pylons into the nutrient-rich waters of the Great Southern Reef. Powerful southern upwellings of the Flinders current bring an abundance of nutrients to feed the thriving community under the Jetty, and the Leeuwin Current from the west brings relative warmth to this unique bioregion. The resulting outcome is an area high in biodiversity and abundant in endemic species – meaning you can dive here and see a concentration of familiar species as well life found nowhere else! The structure of the Jetty is also a reason why life under the Jetty exits here to such intensity. Built in 1873 and located right at the very end of the main street, the Jetty was built to service the export trade of salt, gypsum and lime and later, grain. It became the third busiest port in the state. Large companies quickly set up business in town – the Jetty being the lifeblood of trade exporting to Adelaide, Australia and New Zealand. It saw a lot of action! It was built for it too. Sturdy and wide to allow for carts and horses heavily laden with cargo, as well as steam and tall ships to dock. In its prime it was criss-crossed with rail tracks all busy loading the ships. It was built relatively low to the water too. This width and low clearance are what sets life underneath this Jetty apart from others, as it blocks out a lot of direct sunlight underneath it. No chance for kelps that need to photosynthesize to flourish – instead filter-feeding sponges, mussels and ascidians dominate all but a few of the outer pylons, bringing a mind-boggling array of colours and shapes to this underwater world.
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