Port Campbell Jetty

Meet the site

Port Campbell jetty sits on the eastern side of the small bay that gives the town its sheltered harbour, and it is the Shipwreck Coast's one true pier dive. The bay is a 200 m wide drowned valley with a narrow entrance, and its protection means the jetty can often be dived when everything else on this coast is a wall of white water. Under the pier the pylons carry anemones, sponges and ascidians, and the sand between them is worked by smooth rays and eagle rays that lie half-buried waiting for the tide. Between the jetty and the beach the bottom is a mix of reef gutters, rock and weed that the Scuba Doctor describes as having prolific life: abalone, small crayfish under the ledges, juvenile fish of many species in the weed, wrasse, herring cale, sea sweep and leatherjackets. Old moorings, engine blocks and gearboxes overgrown with kelp lie around the bay and, beneath the cliffs 180 m to the west, the frames of the Napier, the steamer lost in 1878 while salvaging the Loch Ard.

Depths run from 2 m at the beach to about 8 m off the end of the pier, and the dive is a simple shallow circuit that suits Open Water divers and snorkellers. The hazards are those of a working harbour: the jetty crane launches the cray boats, boats come and go overhead so a flag and float are essential, anglers cast from the pier, and commercial fishers store lobsters in sea cages moored nearby which must not be approached. For visiting divers touring the Great Ocean Road it is the most reliable dive between Apollo Bay and Warrnambool, a good night dive, and a sensible place to check conditions and equipment before committing to the exposed sites outside. Combined with the Port Campbell Bay beach dive and the Napier it makes an easy morning with the cafes of Lord Street a hundred metres away.

What you might see

Smooth rays and southern eagle rays, anemones on the pylons, black-lip abalone, juvenile southern rock lobster, juvenile fish, blue-throat wrasse, herring cale, sea sweep, leatherjackets, nudibranchs, kelp

Location

Timber and concrete jetty on the eastern side of Port Campbell Bay, with reef gutters between the beach and the pier, in 2–8 m.

Facilities nearby

Street and trailer parking on Lord Street, toilets and showers at the foreshore, cafes, pub, general store and caravan park within 200 m; jetty crane for permit holders; no air fills – nearest Warrnambool (66 km).