Parker Inlet, Cape Otway

Meet the site

Parker Inlet is a small, stunning cove where the tea-coloured Parker River meets the sea between two low headlands on the eastern side of Cape Otway. A 100 m beach sits at the back of the bay, rock platforms line both sides of the entrance and the reef runs out from them into 5–10 m of water. It is best known as a stop on the Great Ocean Walk and as the beach below Parker Hill campground, and the 300-step descent keeps casual visitors to a minimum. For divers the attraction is the reef on either side of the inlet: large slabs and angled gutters cut into the platform, kelp-covered bommies just offshore and, in the Scuba Doctor's words, plenty of challenging reef to explore north and south of the entrance. The community is the productive open-coast mix found all around the cape – bull kelp and thick brown algae on the ridges, encrusting sponges and ascidians in the shade, abalone and southern rock lobster in the cracks, and schools of ocean-going fish such as sweep, salmon and trevally working the deeper water off the points. Wrasse, magpie perch, zebrafish and leatherjackets are constant, and Port Jackson sharks and rays turn up on the sand.

It is a wilder and more committing dive than Blanket Bay because the entrance takes swell directly and the rip is permanent, and because the carry back up the steps with wet gear is a genuine effort. It rewards a settled summer day with a beautiful, empty dive that almost nobody does, and it pairs naturally with a night at Parker Hill campground. Weak or average swimmers should not consider it; the sea state at the entrance should be assessed from the lookout before committing to the steps, and the beach and platforms should be checked again at the bottom.

What you might see

Southern rock lobster, black-lip abalone, sea sweep, Australian salmon, trevally, blue-throat wrasse, magpie perch, zebrafish, leatherjackets, Port Jackson sharks, rays, bull kelp

Location

Small cove and sandy beach at the mouth of the Parker River between Blanket Bay and Point Franklin, reached by 300 steps from the Parker Hill campground.

Facilities nearby

Parker Hill campground (Parks Victoria bookings), pit toilets, no water; nearest shops Apollo Bay (35 km); no air fills nearby.