Victoria
Diving in Surf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Torquay, Anglesea, Lorne and Apollo Bay face the Southern Ocean, and diving is limited to flat days at the piers and reefs (Lorne Pier, Apollo Bay harbour, Point Addis). The deep offshore wrecks of the SS Casino and others suit technical divers with a boat.
THE LOCAL PLANNING BRIEF
Understand the options around Surf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Victoria’s directory includes Port Phillip Bay, the Heads, peninsula piers and the open coast. Those labels describe different settings, not interchangeable levels of difficulty. Start by identifying the precise location and proposed trip. A record near Melbourne should not be read as an easy shore dive simply because it is close to a city.
What this regional directory records Counts describe published records, not bookable trips or confirmed open sites.
There are 27 published site records in Surf Coast & Great Ocean Road. The recorded categories include reef (13), shore/rock platform (6), wreck (6), cave/cavern (1). These categories reflect the database; they are not a ranking, a conditions report or an assessment of your suitability.
Use the Surf Coast & Great Ocean Road 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 Surf Coast & Great Ocean Road?
Begin with the individual site and its source notes, then discuss the proposed trip with a local provider. The 27 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 Surf Coast & Great Ocean Road 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
Shore/Rock PlatformSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Eagle Rock, Aireys Inlet
A volcanic sea stack and basalt table below the Split Point lighthouse, ringed by kelp, crays, catsharks and seals inside a…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Point Addis
Sponge-lined limestone gutters running out toward a marine-national-park headland, with seadragons, blue devils and crays; the…
Shore/Rock PlatformSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Point Danger, Torquay
Torquay's marine sanctuary headland with a record 96 sea-slug species, eagle rays and Amphibolis meadows in under 7 m, and…
WreckSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
SS Orungal
A 119 m interstate liner wrecked on Formby Reef in 1940 and picked over by Whelan the Wrecker – two Scotch boilers awash at low…
WreckSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Victoria Tower
An 1869 iron clipper lost in fog on her maiden voyage – intact bow with bowsprit, standing frames, hatches and fallen masts in…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Bells Beach
Diving the reef that makes Australia's most famous wave: limestone shelves and overhangs with seadragons and blue devils inside…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Bird Rock, Jan Juc
Ledged limestone reef and gullied platforms around a surf-famous headland at Jan Juc; a rarely possible but beautiful Surf Coast…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Blanket Bay, Cape Otway
The most sheltered of the Cape Otway coves: a campground beach, an old jetty and a kelp reef holding crays and schooling fish on…
WreckSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Casino
Apollo Bay's own ship: a 1932 coastal steamer with boiler, engine and bow still standing on sand in 9 m, a surface swim from the…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Cathedral Rock, Lorne
A sheltered-looking cove below the Great Ocean Road east of Lorne with deep water off its northern platform and Otway-sandstone…
Shore/Rock PlatformSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Crayfish Bay, Cape Otway
Crays, bommies and visiting fur seals from Seal Point, directly under the Cape Otway lighthouse – the wildest of the cape's shore…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Eagle Nest Reef, Aireys Inlet
A kilometres-long limestone reef beneath the red bluffs of Aireys Inlet, with a beginner-friendly inner reef and a main reef in…
Jetty/PierSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Lorne Pier
The only pier dive on the Otway coast: seahorses, cowfish, crabs and rays on the pylons and sand in a few metres of water, with a…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Marengo Reefs Marine Sanctuary
A fur seal haul-out on a kelp-covered sanctuary reef within a short swim of the beach – the Great Ocean Road's signature snorkel…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Parker Inlet, Cape Otway
A secluded river-mouth cove on the Great Ocean Walk with kelp gutters and offshore bommies, reached by 300 steps – empty, wild…
Shore/Rock PlatformSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Point Bunbury, Apollo Bay
Two easy shore entries either side of the Apollo Bay harbour headland – small kelp reefs and a sheltered breakwater beach –…
Shore/Rock PlatformSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Point Danger Marine Sanctuary (Torquay)
Torquay's local sanctuary reef with kelp gutters, crayfish and seadragons within a short swim of a car park; doubles as the site…
Shore/Rock PlatformSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Point Franklin, Cape Otway
The deepest and most varied of the Cape Otway shore dives: angled gutters, big slabs and offshore reefs to 14 m off a wild point,…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Point Roadknight North
Calcarenite gullies and ledges on the sheltered side of Anglesea's headland, with an easy car park and the best odds of a…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Point Roadknight South
A maze of undercut limestone blocks and sand channels on the ocean side of Point Roadknight, full of crays and cuttlefish; flat…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Sandy Gully Beach, Aireys Inlet
Quiet beach between red sandstone headlands giving access to the southern end of Eagle Nest Reef; a longer, less-visited…
WreckSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Speculant
Iron ribs and plating of a 1911 barquentine in the surge gutters directly below the Great Ocean Road at Cape Patton – a heritage…
ReefSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
The Steps, Jan Juc
Cavernous limestone reef in 8-10 m off a famous surf break; the deepest of the Jan Juc shore dives, possible only on flat days.
WreckSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
City of Rayville
The first American merchant ship lost in WWII, intact and upright in 82 m off Cape Otway – Victoria's premier deep technical…
Details need confirmation