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
Jetty/PierGeelong & Bellarine
Clifton Springs Piers
Ruins of a Victorian spa resort's piers in shallow, sheltered water full of seahorses and nudibranchs; historic bottles and a…
Jetty/PierGeelong & Bellarine
Clifton Springs Steamship Pier
Heritage-listed remains of an 1890 steamer pier with rails and fittings on a shallow seagrass bottom; seahorses and a quiet night…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Conside
Victoria's earliest screw-steamer wreck (1852) and possibly the first steamship across the Pacific – remains of her rare geared…
Shore/Rock PlatformMornington Peninsula
Coral Cove, Mornington
Quiet cliff-foot reef exploration between Mornington and Mount Eliza; can be linked with Fosters and Fossil beaches.
Jetty/PierPhillip Island & Western Port
Corinella Jetty
A sheltered, easy-access pier on Western Port's eastern shore known chiefly for bottle and relic fossicking at slack water.
Jetty/PierPhillip Island & Western Port
Cowes Jetty
Phillip Island's easiest and most reliable dive – a long Western Port pier with seahorses, crabs and octopus on the pylons, ideal…
ReefPhillip Island & Western Port
Cowrie Beach
Easy, west-facing reef and weed bay near The Nobbies that is diveable on easterly winds when Phillip Island's south coast is…
Pinnacle/BommieMornington Peninsula
Crawfish Rock
A tide-scoured pinnacle in Western Port's North Arm with walls to 32 m covered in Victoria's richest sponge and hydroid gardens –…
Shore/Rock PlatformSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Crayfish Bay, Cape Otway
Crays, bommies and visiting fur seals from Seal Point, directly under the Cape Otway lighthouse – the wildest of the cape's shore…
Shore/Rock PlatformShipwreck Coast & Warrnambool
Crofts Bay
The most sheltered shore dive in the Bay of Islands Coastal Park – reef gutters and stack bases inside a kilometre-wide reef…
Shore/Rock PlatformPhillip Island & Western Port
Cunningham Bay
Multiple basalt reefs in 5–12 m below the Grand Prix circuit bluffs, with some shelter from south-westerly swell and almost no…
Jetty/PierGeelong & Bellarine
Cunningham Pier
Geelong's deepest pier dive under a 1850s wool pier, sheltered from south and west winds; a study in native versus introduced…
Shore/Rock PlatformGeelong & Bellarine
Curlewis
Sheltered north-facing Corio Bay beach with seahorses, pipefish and nudibranchs in seagrass and hydroid beds; a quiet refuge from…
WallWilsons Promontory
Dannevig Island North East
A large multi-entrance boulder cave at 25 m and a field of massive granite swim-throughs on the northern tip of Dannevig Island.
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Don Diego
The oldest hull in the Graveyard – an 1855 Greenock-built iron barque and coal hulk scuttled in 1916 – bow and stern rising 4 m…
Artificial ReefMornington Peninsula
Dromana Shellfish Reef
A living shellfish-reef restoration site in easy depth; watch a bay reef being rebuilt.
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Eagle Nest Reef, Aireys Inlet
A kilometres-long limestone reef beneath the red bluffs of Aireys Inlet, with a beginner-friendly inner reef and a main reef in…
ReefShipwreck Coast & Warrnambool
Eagle Rock, Warrnambool
Five-metre-deep crevasses with walls and caves running out to a lone rock off the golf course cliffs – the most rugged reef on…
ReefBass Coast
Eagles Nest (Inverloch)
Sandstone gutters and ledges under Bunurong's dinosaur-fossil stack with resting Port Jackson sharks, big crayfish and vivid…
WreckShipwreck Coast & Warrnambool
Edinburgh Castle
Concrete casts of 1888 cement barrels around a windlass and anchor in 4–5 m of Lady Bay sand – the barque that came to build the…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Edward Northcote
Sister of the H.C. Piggot and a WWI minesweeper, the last Harbour Trust barge scuttled (1952) – substantially intact hull with…
WreckPortland & the West
Emily S
A 30 m trawler sitting upright and intact in 24 m in the lee of Lawrence Rocks, with resident weedy seadragons at the propeller –…
WreckShipwreck Coast & Warrnambool
Falls of Halladale
The ship that stood under full sail on the reef for weeks in 1908: a 5 m high bow, lattice of iron and piles of roofing slate in…
ReefWilsons Promontory
Fenwick Bight
Granite boulder fringe with vertical walls and small caves towards South Point; a sheltered-end second dive at the bottom of the…