AUSTRALIAN DESTINATIONS
Diving in Victoria
Explore 395 listed dive sites and find the local knowledge to help plan your visit.
THE LOCAL PLANNING BRIEF
Separate bay, Heads and open-coast diving
Victoria’s directory includes Port Phillip Bay, the Heads, peninsula piers and the open coast. Those labels describe different settings, not interchangeable levels of difficulty. Start by identifying the precise location and proposed trip. A record near Melbourne should not be read as an easy shore dive simply because it is close to a city.
Choose the setting, then the trip Counts describe published records, not bookable trips or confirmed open sites.
There are 395 published site records across Victoria. The recorded categories include wreck (98), reef (95), shore/rock platform (74), wall (38). These categories reflect the database; they are not a ranking, a conditions report or an assessment of your suitability.
Start with one of the regional pages below. State-wide totals are useful for browsing, but the actual choice should be made at the level of an operator, a site and a proposed itinerary.
Research operators in Victoria →Ask before booking
- Is this trip inside the bay, at the Heads or on the open coast?
- Who determines the current and weather window?
- Which exposure protection and equipment arrangements should we discuss?
Save the answers with the contact name and date. Separate confirmed arrangements from items still waiting for a reply.
Record your trip questions →Bay and peninsula
Compare Melbourne, Mornington and Bellarine records by access and facilities. Check the current status of piers and nearby works with the relevant manager.
Port Phillip Heads
Take tide and current questions to an experienced local operator. A tide-table time or a historical site note does not establish a suitable diving window.
Open coast and wrecks
Discuss the actual route, vessel, training and exposure protection with the provider. A wreck listing is background information, not permission to enter a structure.
Questions, answered
How do I choose a dive in Victoria?
Begin with the individual site and its source notes, then discuss the proposed trip with a local provider. The 395 published records are research options, not a list of trips available today. Match the plan to your training, recent experience and the operator’s current requirements.
When should I visit Victoria for diving?
Choose dates with a provider who runs the activity you want, then discuss seasonal patterns, recent conditions and alternative itineraries. A generic best-month claim cannot establish the conditions at your exact site or guarantee a wildlife encounter.
Can I use these maps to enter or navigate a dive site?
No. Recorded and approximate map positions support orientation only. Confirm the exact access, permissions, meeting point and route with the responsible local provider or manager.
Regional planning context: Visit Victoria — scuba diving ↗. Directory counts come from published YouDive records. Individual site claims remain subject to their source and review notes.
Find your region
Dive sites to explore
WreckMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
PS Ozone
The 1886 'Greyhound of Port Phillip' scuttled as a breakwater – paddle wheel above water, boilers and steering gear in 3 m, with…
WallPort Phillip Heads
Paradise Wall
A stepped wall with shallower upper terrain and deeper drop-offs. Confirm the planned route, depth and slack-water window with…
WallPort Phillip Heads
Party Point
Vertical Lonsdale Wall face with a step-out every 6–9 m and a cave-like overhang behind each one, from 12 m to 45 m – the…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Petriana
The tanker whose 1903 wreck caused Australia's first major oil spill – a relatively intact bow in 3 m and scattered iron to 6 m…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Pioneer
A 1905 Clyde-built pump dredge that is one of the most complete large wrecks off Victoria – both propellers in place and…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Point Addis
Sponge-lined limestone gutters running out toward a marine-national-park headland, with seadragons, blue devils and crays; the…
Shore/Rock PlatformSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Point Danger, Torquay
Torquay's marine sanctuary headland with a record 96 sea-slug species, eagle rays and Amphibolis meadows in under 7 m, and…
ReefMornington Peninsula
Point Franklin Reef, Portsea
The best natural reef dive on the bay side of the Peninsula from shore – ledges to 15 m, seadragons and lobsters, and a tidal…
Jetty/PierPort Phillip Heads
Point Lonsdale Jetty
A small pier at the western jaw of The Rip with oceanic-clear water and thick pile growth – seahorses and nudibranchs under the…
Shore/Rock PlatformPort Phillip Heads
Point Lonsdale Light
Clear 1–5 m reef beneath Point Lonsdale lighthouse with juvenile blue groper and sea-nymph meadows – a low-tide snorkel and shore…
Artificial ReefPort Phillip Heads
Popes Eye
An 1880s fort foundation turned marine reserve: a sheltered inner lagoon packed with tame fish, an outer wall of gorgonians and…
Artificial ReefPort Phillip Heads
Popes Eye Anchor Farm
Thirteen historic ships' anchors – Admiralty, Trotman and Rogers Patent patterns recovered during channel deepening – laid out on…
Jetty/PierGeelong & Bellarine
Portarlington Pier
Sheltered north-facing Bellarine pier, reachable by ferry from Melbourne, with reliable seahorses and small artificial reefs off…
Shore/Rock PlatformPortland & the West
Portland Lee Breakwater
Portland's sheltered training and night dive: seadragons in the seagrass, conger eels, crays and nudibranchs along a kilometre of…
WallPort Phillip Heads
Portsea Back Beach Wall
An east–west calcarenite wall in Bass Strait off Portsea back beach with swim-throughs, unafraid crayfish walking in the open,…
WallPort Phillip Heads
Portsea Hole
A 75 m vertical calcarenite wall from 12 m to 27 m with a sand bowl to 33 m, 500 m off Portsea Pier – sixteen sponge species,…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Portsea Hole Wreck
A 13 m fishing boat scuttled in the early 1980s at 26 m beside Portsea Hole, now a sponge-covered fish shelter and the natural…
Jetty/PierMornington Peninsula
Portsea Pier
The most reliable bay-side weedy seadragon pier, with clean ocean-flushed water, kelp at the head and adjoining reefs; superb…
DriftPort Phillip Heads
Quarantine Station Reef
A 12–22 m ridge off the historic Point Nepean Quarantine Station strewn with six anchors and a century of discarded ship's china,…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
RMS Australia
The boilers, shafts and plating of a 142 m P&O mail steamer that struck Corsair Rock in 1904, strewn over 300 m of reef in 3–8 m…
Shore/Rock PlatformMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary
Melbourne's flagship marine sanctuary: eight shallow reef entries, tame fish, sea caves and seagrass twenty minutes from the CBD,…
WallPort Phillip Heads
Rip Bank
A sheer cliff with roofed overhangs at the seaward mouth of The Rip, dived only on the end-of-flood slack in calm seas – crayfish…
Jetty/PierMornington Peninsula
Rosebud Pier
Uncrowded pier with rich seagrass nursery; seahorses and rays without the Rye crowds.
Jetty/PierMornington Peninsula
Rye Pier
Seahorses on nearly every pylon, the annual giant spider crab aggregation, big stingrays and superb night diving – all in 7 m…