Point Labatt (No Diving)

Point Labatt Sea Lion Colony | West Coast SA

By ScubaDownUnder Team · 2025-06-22

Point Labatt is one of the most important Australian sea lion sites in the country, and it is not a dive site. The only permanent colony of Australian sea lions on the mainland hauls out on the rocks below the cliffs of the Calca Peninsula, and the only way to see it is from above. The marine reserve at the foot of the cliffs is a declared prohibited area: no access, no swimming, no diving.

If you want to get in the water with Australian sea lions on this coast, the place to do it legally is Baird Bay, a little further down the coast and covered below.

## Why the water is off limits

The Australian sea lion (*Neophoca cinerea*) is endangered, and it is found nowhere else on earth. Unlike fur seals, which pup every year, Australian sea lions breed roughly every 18 months. At Point Labatt, pups arrive mid-winter one year and mid-summer the next, and pupping and mating happen at the base of these cliffs, in exactly the area closed to the public.

That closure is doing real work. Bulls become aggressive and territorial during breeding, pups start learning to swim at around four weeks old, and a colony disturbed at the wrong moment can scatter into the water or leave pups exposed. A species that reproduces this slowly cannot absorb that kind of pressure.

## Visiting the colony

Point Labatt Conservation Park sits about 50 kilometres south of Streaky Bay on the Calca Peninsula, reached via Sceales Bay or Calca. Entry is free, and the park is not part of the SA park pass system. Camping is not permitted, and dogs are not allowed (registered assistance dogs excepted).

You watch the colony from the clifftop, looking down onto the rocks where sea lions of every age rest, squabble and move in and out of the water. Bring binoculars or a long lens: the animals are well below you, and the best moments, a pup's first tentative swims or a bull holding his patch, are small at that range. Carry water and plan fuel and supplies around Streaky Bay, the nearest town.

Because the breeding cycle is irregular, no two visits look the same. Depending on where the colony sits in its 18-month cycle you may see very young pups on the rocks, or older juveniles playing in the shallows.

## Where to swim with sea lions instead

Baird Bay, a little further down the coast from Point Labatt, is where you can get in the water with Australian sea lions legally. The [Baird Bay Experience](https://bairdbay.com/) takes small groups of no more than 20 guests into calm, shallow water at the Jones Island colony, where the sea lions come to you on their own terms, and the same half-day tour includes a swim with wild dolphins. Tours run from October to April.

For every other place in Australia where in-water encounters are allowed, and how to do them well, see our guide to [sea lions and fur seals in Australia](https://www.scubadownunder.com/blog/sea-lions-and-fur-seals-in-australia).

## Sources

- [National Parks and Wildlife Service SA, Point Labatt Conservation Park](https://www.parks.sa.gov.au/parks/point-labatt-conservation-park) - [Baird Bay Experience](https://bairdbay.com/) - [DCCEEW, Seals and sea lions](https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/marine/marine-species/seals-and-sea-lions) - [Australian Marine Conservation Society, Australian Sea Lions](https://www.marineconservation.org.au/australian-sea-lions/)

Header photo: an Australian sea lion at Sandland Island, WA, by Calistemon, [CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Australian_sea_lion_(Neophoca_cinerea)_at_Sandland_Island,_September_2023_01.jpg).