Point Franklin, Cape Otway

Meet the site

Point Franklin is the rocky point midway between Parker Inlet and the Cape Otway lightstation, on the stretch of coast where the Bass Strait shoreline turns the corner into the Southern Ocean. Twenty to thirty metre vegetated bluffs stand behind a steep, barless beach, rock platforms run out from both ends and reefs continue offshore into 14 m. It is a place of large angled gutters cut into the platform, big underwater rock slabs and, further out, isolated reefs surrounded by sand, and it carries the heavy growth and abundant life that comes from being in the path of everything the Southern Ocean sends. Bull kelp and thick brown algae cover the ridges, sponges and ascidians pack the shaded faces of the gutters, and the cracks hold abalone and southern rock lobster in numbers that make the point popular with spearfishers on the rare calm days. Schools of ocean-going fish – sweep, salmon, trevally, sometimes kingfish – move through the deep water off the tip, and the reef fish are the usual western Victorian set of wrasse, magpie perch, zebrafish, herring cale and leatherjackets, with Port Jackson sharks and rays on the sand.

The Scuba Doctor rates it Advanced and calls it a highly hazardous area, and both are fair. The deep water directly off the beach means the shore break is heavy in any swell, the gutters surge, and the offshore reefs are a real swim from the beach with no shelter on the way. It is, however, the most interesting of the Cape Otway shore sites for an experienced diver: deeper than Blanket Bay or Parker Inlet, more varied in structure, and with the best chance of pelagic fish and seals from the colony at nearby Seal Point. The point should be walked to and the sea assessed before gearing up, and weak or average swimmers should not consider diving or snorkelling here.

What you might see

Southern rock lobster, black-lip abalone, sea sweep, Australian salmon, trevally, kingfish (summer), blue-throat wrasse, magpie perch, herring cale, zebrafish, leatherjackets, Port Jackson sharks, rays, Australian fur seals from Seal Point, bull kelp, sponges

Location

Rocky point and steep beach between Parker Inlet and the Cape Otway lighthouse, below 20–30 m vegetated bluffs, reached by a vehicle track off Lighthouse Road.

Facilities nearby

None – informal parking at the end of the track; nearest toilets at the Cape Otway lightstation (paid entry) or Blanket Bay campground; supplies in Apollo Bay.