Discovery Bay Marine National Park (Whites Beach)

Meet the site

Discovery Bay Marine National Park protects 2,770 hectares of the wildest coast in Victoria, running along the shore west of Cape Bridgewater toward the great sweep of Discovery Bay beach and Nelson. It is a place of extremes. Inshore, basalt reefs and rock platforms fringe the ends of the park and the beach between is a continuous surf zone. Offshore, in 30–60 m, lie low-profile reefs formed from ancient shorelines and capped with volcanic basalt, and on them, in Parks Victoria's description, rich sponge gardens composed of thick growths of sessile invertebrates – sponges, ascidians, bryozoans and gorgonians – interspersed with plains of sand. The Bonney Upwelling, which brings cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface along this coast every summer, drives one of the richest food webs in southern Australia: krill swarms, schools of fish, Australian fur seals, little penguins, common dolphins, southern right and humpback whales in winter and blue whales feeding offshore from October to March, the only reliable blue whale feeding ground in Australian waters.

Parks Victoria says diving should only be undertaken by trained and experienced divers, that swimmers and snorkellers must beware of strong currents and undertows, and that some areas are impassable at high tide; the offshore sponge reefs are known from research surveys rather than recreational dives, and no operator visits. Whites Beach, the most accessible part of the park, offers a shore entry beside inshore basalt reef in exceptional calm, and the Blowholes and Petrified Forest on the western side of Cape Bridgewater – the limestone tubes of the Petrified Forest are in fact solution pipes, not trees – give clifftop views of the park's eastern end but no way into the water. The Glenelg River mouth at Nelson, 65 km west at the South Australian border, is a shallow bar with a river ramp and no documented sea diving. For a well-equipped expedition with a good boat and a long autumn calm, the deep reefs off Discovery Bay are one of the last unexplored dive frontiers in Victoria; for everyone else the park is a place to watch whales and seals from the cliffs.

What you might see

Rich sponge gardens (sponges, ascidians, bryozoans, gorgonians) on deep reefs, Australian fur seals, little penguins, common dolphins, blue whales (Oct–Mar), southern right and humpback whales (winter), Australian salmon, reef fish on inshore basalt, kelp

Location

A 2,770 ha marine national park on the fully exposed coast west of Cape Bridgewater between Portland and Nelson, with basalt inshore reefs, sponge-garden reefs in 30–60 m offshore and Whites Beach as its most accessible point.

Facilities nearby

Cape Bridgewater cafe and toilets, Blowholes and Petrified Forest car parks, Nelson township and Glenelg River ramp; Portland SCUBA (Portland) for air.