Meet the site
South of Balcombe Point the Mount Martha shoreline changes from beach to a long run of low cliffs that continues for about 8 km to Martha Point and the Safety Beach marina. The Scuba Doctor lists five shore dives along this stretch, each named for the street whose creek gully gives access – Deakin Drive, Hearn Road, Stanley Crescent, Burdoo Way and Ian Road – and describes them all as 3–5 m shore dives with fairly easy track access. Deakin Drive is the northern-most and the closest to Mount Martha village and Balcombe Creek, which makes it the first choice for anyone coming from Mornington and the one most affected by creek run-off after rain. What lies below is a shallow sandstone and basalt platform reef fringing the cliff foot: ledges and undercuts a metre or two high, boulder falls from the cliff, brown algae and Sargassum on the rock, seagrass on the sand between. The fish are those of any rocky shore in the eastern bay – magpie perch, old wives, zebrafish, leatherjackets, hulafish and bullseyes under the ledges – with decorator crabs, octopus and abalone in the crevices, rays and flathead on the sand and giant cuttlefish inshore in winter. The attraction is solitude and unexplored reef within an hour of Melbourne, at a depth that allows very long dives; the drawback is that there is nothing to aim for, no facilities and a genuine exposure to westerly weather. These are sites for self-sufficient shore divers who enjoy poking along a coastline with a flag and a camera, and for local snorkellers. Nobody should drive far for them, but a diver already at Mount Martha on a still, high-tide morning with an easterly can have several kilometres of reef entirely to themselves.
What you might see
Magpie perch, old wife, zebrafish, leatherjackets, southern hulafish, bullseyes, decorator crab, Maori octopus, blacklip abalone, southern fiddler ray, sand flathead, giant cuttlefish (winter)
Location
Northern-most of the five creek-gully shore dives along the 8 km of low cliffs between Balcombe Point and Martha Point, Mount Martha, below the Esplanade at Deakin Drive; Hearn Road is 820 m to the south-west.
Facilities nearby
None at the gullies; street parking only; toilets and cafés at Mount Martha village and Safety Beach; air fills at Mornington or Rosebud dive shops.
Before you make plans
Conditions, access and operator schedules can change. This is a location guide, not a dive plan. Ask a local operator about current conditions and suitability for your training and experience.
Sources & further reading
scubadoctor.com.auscubadoctor.com.auRecord updated 26 Sept 2026. Source claims are being reviewed.