Victoria
Diving in Port Phillip Heads
The entrance to Port Phillip Bay is a 3 km gap through which the whole bay drains and fills twice a day, and the currents have carved walls, canyons and caves in the limestone: Lonsdale Wall, Nepean Wall, the Boulders, the Cave, the Canyons and Popes Eye. Outside the Heads lies the Ships' Graveyard, with more than 40 scuttled vessels including the J1, J2, J4 and J5 submarines, the SS Coogee and the Eliza Ramsden. Every dive here is on slack water and every dive is from a charter.
THE LOCAL PLANNING BRIEF
Understand the options around Port Phillip Heads
Timing language needs a local interpretation
The Heads collection includes sites whose source material discusses tidal streams and specific windows. Do not translate a tide-table high or low into a diving time by yourself. Ask the operator how the proposed window is determined for the named site and what would cause a change. Historical abbreviations in a record are context for that discussion, not operating instructions. Boat logistics, training and the actual route must be discussed together.
One useful question: Who determines the site-specific current window and confirms the departure on the day?
What this regional directory records Counts describe published records, not bookable trips or confirmed open sites.
There are 118 published site records in Port Phillip Heads. The recorded categories include wreck (56), wall (29), reef (9), pinnacle/bommie (8). These categories reflect the database; they are not a ranking, a conditions report or an assessment of your suitability.
Use the Port Phillip Heads site cards to compare recorded access and depth, then open the individual pages for the map accuracy and source notes. Sites grouped in a region are not necessarily close enough to combine in one day.
Research operators in Victoria →Ask before booking
- Is this trip inside the bay, at the Heads or on the open coast?
- Who determines the current and weather window?
- Which exposure protection and equipment arrangements should we discuss?
Save the answers with the contact name and date. Separate confirmed arrangements from items still waiting for a reply.
Record your trip questions →Questions, answered
How do I choose a dive in Port Phillip Heads?
Begin with the individual site and its source notes, then discuss the proposed trip with a local provider. The 118 published records are research options, not a list of trips available today. Match the plan to your training, recent experience and the operator’s current requirements.
When should I visit Port Phillip Heads for diving?
Choose dates with a provider who runs the activity you want, then discuss seasonal patterns, recent conditions and alternative itineraries. A generic best-month claim cannot establish the conditions at your exact site or guarantee a wildlife encounter.
Can I use these maps to enter or navigate a dive site?
No. Recorded and approximate map positions support orientation only. Confirm the exact access, permissions, meeting point and route with the responsible local provider or manager.
Regional planning context: Visit Victoria — scuba diving ↗. Directory counts come from published YouDive records. Individual site claims remain subject to their source and review notes.
Dive sites in this region
WallPort Phillip Heads
Portsea Back Beach Wall
An east–west calcarenite wall in Bass Strait off Portsea back beach with swim-throughs, unafraid crayfish walking in the open,…
WallPort Phillip Heads
Portsea Hole
A 75 m vertical calcarenite wall from 12 m to 27 m with a sand bowl to 33 m, 500 m off Portsea Pier – sixteen sponge species,…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Portsea Hole Wreck
A 13 m fishing boat scuttled in the early 1980s at 26 m beside Portsea Hole, now a sponge-covered fish shelter and the natural…
DriftPort Phillip Heads
Quarantine Station Reef
A 12–22 m ridge off the historic Point Nepean Quarantine Station strewn with six anchors and a century of discarded ship's china,…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
RMS Australia
The boilers, shafts and plating of a 142 m P&O mail steamer that struck Corsair Rock in 1904, strewn over 300 m of reef in 3–8 m…
WallPort Phillip Heads
Rip Bank
A sheer cliff with roofed overhangs at the seaward mouth of The Rip, dived only on the end-of-flood slack in calm seas – crayfish…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Buninyong
Second-largest wreck in the Graveyard – intact bridge with an exhaust stack across it and three boilers in 50–54 m; a trimix…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Cheviot
Scattered iron of the coastal steamer whose 1887 wreck killed 34 people – the deadliest loss at the Heads – in 1–7 m of…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Coogee
Photogenic stern with steering quadrant under two decks, twin boilers you can swim between, and a bow on its side with railings…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Courier
Planked foredeck 7 m proud of the sand and the most colourful sponge growth in the Graveyard; two boilers in line with crayfish…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Milora
The largest wreck in the Graveyard – a 101 m collier standing 10–12 m off the sand with intact bow, standing cabin structure and…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
SS Rotomahana
The first steel-hulled ocean steamer in the world; separated clipper bow with anchors and bowsprit, and a wall of condensers and…
DriftPort Phillip Heads
Sponge Garden Drift
Ebb-tide float drift from shallow reef over carpets of coloured sponges to bommies at 20 m off Queenscliff – the easiest and most…
WallPort Phillip Heads
Spot G
Fractured section of the Lonsdale cliff where slabs have split from the face, leaving 30 m-deep cracks full of blue devils,…
WallPort Phillip Heads
The Abyss
A freestanding 100 m bommie with a 20–40 m north-east wall just inside the Nepean side of the Heads – strong-current scenery…
WallPort Phillip Heads
The Cave (Lonsdale Wall)
A truck-sized cavern in the face of Lonsdale Wall at 30 m, at the ocean end of the system – ebb-slack only, shipping permitting,…
WallPort Phillip Heads
The Far Side
A sheer north-facing wall in the middle of the entrance channel, 18 m to 40 m and beyond, whose shaded overhangs show their…
WallPort Phillip Heads
The Links
A freighter's anchor chain, cut free in the 1980s, hanging from 18 m to 60 m down Lonsdale Wall and now completely overgrown with…
WallPort Phillip Heads
The Mall
The central and fishiest stretch of Lonsdale Wall – a near-vertical face from 15 m to 45 m with blue devils, cuttlefish, crayfish…
WallPort Phillip Heads
Toms Cave
A short natural tunnel entering the Lonsdale Wall at 30 m and exiting at 22 m – an easy, torch-lit swim-through for Advanced…
WallPort Phillip Heads
Trimix Corner / Entrance Deep
The descent point for Entrance Deep, Victoria's deepest known dive at 103 m in the drowned Yarra channel inside the Heads –…
Pinnacle/BommiePort Phillip Heads
Twin Bommies
Two steep limestone towers rising from 18 m to 12 m on the outer Lonsdale reef, coated in soft corals and sponges with Port…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
William Salthouse
Australia's first Canada–Australia trader, lost in 1841 with her cargo of barrels still in the hold – an intact early-colonial…
Artificial ReefPort Phillip Heads
ex-HMAS Canberra
A 138 m guided-missile frigate scuttled in 2009 and sitting almost upright in 28–32 m with the bridge at 8 m – bridge, galley,…