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
Muck/SandMornington Peninsula
Rye Scallop Beds
The most offshore of the Rye scallop grounds; an easy drift with rays and spider crabs when the inshore beds are quiet.
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Buninyong
Second-largest wreck in the Graveyard – intact bridge with an exhaust stack across it and three boilers in 50–54 m; a trimix…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Cheviot
Scattered iron of the coastal steamer whose 1887 wreck killed 34 people – the deadliest loss at the Heads – in 1–7 m of…
WreckMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
SS City of Launceston
An 1863 Bass Strait steamer sunk in an 1865 collision and lying complete from keel to deck in 21 m of silt with the other ship's…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Coogee
Photogenic stern with steering quadrant under two decks, twin boilers you can swim between, and a bow on its side with railings…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Courier
Planked foredeck 7 m proud of the sand and the most colourful sponge growth in the Graveyard; two boilers in line with crayfish…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Milora
The largest wreck in the Graveyard – a 101 m collier standing 10–12 m off the sand with intact bow, standing cabin structure and…
WreckSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
SS Orungal
A 119 m interstate liner wrecked on Formby Reef in 1940 and picked over by Whelan the Wrecker – two Scotch boilers awash at low…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Rotomahana
The first steel-hulled ocean steamer in the world; separated clipper bow with anchors and bowsprit, and a wall of condensers and…
WreckMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
SS Uralba
The last wooden coal-burner built in Australia and a WWII boom-defence vessel, upright in 18 m off Carrum with foremast, water…
Jetty/PierMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
Sea Scouts Jetty, Beaumaris Bay
Easiest walk-in entry near Ricketts Point via a concrete ramp, leading to a boulder field under towering sandstone cliffs with…
Jetty/PierMornington Peninsula
Sorrento Pier
One of Melbourne's best night dives: colourful sponge-covered ferry pylons, weedy seadragons and antique bottles under an 1870…
IslandMornington Peninsula
South Channel Fort
Granite caves and tunnels around an 1880s fort island, with seals, cuttlefish and blue devils in the middle of Port Phillip.
DriftPort Phillip Heads
Sponge Garden Drift
Ebb-tide float drift from shallow reef over carpets of coloured sponges to bommies at 20 m off Queenscliff – the easiest and most…
WallPort Phillip Heads
Spot G
Fractured section of the Lonsdale cliff where slabs have split from the face, leaving 30 m-deep cracks full of blue devils,…
Jetty/PierGeelong & Bellarine
St Leonards Pier
The Bellarine's best pier: 4-6 m of sheltered, weedy water with seahorses, stargazers and cuttlefish, an 1850s wreck's ribs, and…
Shore/Rock PlatformShipwreck Coast & Warrnambool
Stingray Bay
The best shore dive in Warrnambool: a kelp forest full of cuttlefish, crayfish and seahorses with stingrays on the sand, in a…
Shore/Rock PlatformMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
Table Rock, Ricketts Point
The sanctuary's best terrain: undercut ledges and a cave-like hollow under a sandstone headland, with bigger fish and rays; a…
Shore/Rock PlatformMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
Tea House Bay, Ricketts Point
The most sheltered and accessible water in the sanctuary, right in front of the teahouse; sand and seagrass critters plus reef…
Shore/Rock PlatformMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
Tea House Reef, Ricketts Point
The central reef of the sanctuary with navigable channels, dense tame fish and the best facilities of any bayside shore dive; the…
WallPort Phillip Heads
The Abyss
A freestanding 100 m bommie with a 20–40 m north-east wall just inside the Nepean side of the Heads – strong-current scenery…
WallPort Phillip Heads
The Cave (Lonsdale Wall)
A truck-sized cavern in the face of Lonsdale Wall at 30 m, at the ocean end of the system – ebb-slack only, shipping permitting,…
WallPort Phillip Heads
The Far Side
A sheer north-facing wall in the middle of the entrance channel, 18 m to 40 m and beyond, whose shaded overhangs show their…
WallPort Phillip Heads
The Links
A freighter's anchor chain, cut free in the 1980s, hanging from 18 m to 60 m down Lonsdale Wall and now completely overgrown with…