Port Fairy Lighthouse Reefs (Griffiths Island)

Meet the site

Griffiths Island is the low basalt island that shelters the mouth of the Moyne River at Port Fairy, joined to the town by a causeway and crowned by the 1859 lighthouse. Offshore from it, the Scuba Doctor describes an extensive network of boulder reefs and ridges extending into Port Fairy Bay: rocky reef with ledges, gutters and bommies on a sandy bottom, dropping from 5 m near shore to about 15 m some 80–100 m out and to 20–30 m further offshore. The boat dives on the shallow reefs are, in the same source's words, some of the best in the region, and the diversity of marine life about 500 m offshore in 20 m is described as high. The basalt is heavily encrusted – sponges, ascidians, bryozoans and hydroids on the shaded faces, kelp and mixed algae on the tops – and the ledges hold southern rock lobster, abalone and the invertebrate life that makes the site good for macro photography. Fish include blue-throat and senator wrasse, magpie perch, sea sweep, herring cale, zebrafish, boarfish and leatherjackets, with Port Jackson sharks, wobbegongs and rays on the sand, cuttlefish in the gutters and fur seals from Lady Julia Percy Island, 15 km to the west, passing through. Short-tailed shearwaters nest on the island in tens of thousands from September to April.

For non-divers and families the island offers two snorkels: South Mole Beach, a 200 m beach beside the river entrance with small waves, and Griffiths Island Beach, a pocket in the lee of the reef where a calm lagoon forms at low tide. For divers with a boat the reefs are the best natural diving between Warrnambool and Portland and a short run from the town ramp, with the added interest of the Port Fairy lighthouse and, on the way out, the harbour training walls. No dive charter operates from Port Fairy, so the site is used by Warrnambool Diving on occasion, by fishing charters by arrangement and by private boats. It suits Open Water divers with a boat on a settled autumn day, and the shallow ridges near the island make a forgiving second dive or a snorkel on the calmest days.

What you might see

Southern rock lobster, black-lip abalone, blue-throat and senator wrasse, magpie perch, sea sweep, herring cale, zebrafish, longsnout boarfish, leatherjackets, Port Jackson sharks, wobbegongs, rays, cuttlefish, nudibranchs, Australian fur seals (transient), short-tailed shearwaters, kelp, sponges and ascidians on basalt

Location

Extensive boulder reefs, ridges and bommies extending offshore from the Port Fairy lighthouse on Griffiths Island at the mouth of the Moyne River, from 5 m near shore to 20–30 m half a kilometre out.

Facilities nearby

Griffiths Street boat ramp with parking, toilets at the ramp and East Beach, Port Fairy cafes, pubs and accommodation; causeway walk to the island; no air fills in Port Fairy – nearest Warrnambool.