Diving in Melbourne, Australia

[Roger30]

I just finished my open water certification last weekend. I am going to Melbourne for a wedding in mid may and want to do a dive! Any recommendation on dive sites and dive shops?

 

[devin95]

Well there are heaps of shore dives and jetties are frequently dived, depths are 3-9m usually so you can spend hours there so photographers love them for macro stuff. The jetties include:
- Blairgowrie: diveable in all weather so a good backup shore spot - nudi heaven (I have seen over 50 at least on one dive, at least 12 different species), but also big rays, octopuses, salmon, sea horses
- Rye: easiest pier dive, lots of rays, seahorses, a resident baby seal and an angry maori octopus called 'The Kraken'
- Mornington - blue ring octopus heaven, calamari, seahorses, stingrays, cuttlefish are common here too. Viz tends to be less than 5m though.
- Flinders - you are 99.9% guaranteed to see a weedy sea dragon here. Also massive 2m+ rays, sometimes a seal, calamari.
- Portsea - the most commonly dived pier so don't dive here if you do not like crowds. Bit barren at the moment but nudis, weedy sea dragons (though harder to find than Flinders if you don't know the pier), rays, seahorses, cuttlefish
- Sorrento - only diveable on slack water after the ferry stops at 8pm (so a night dive only) - probably the best pier I have dived though so worth the hassle organising the right time

viz is great, and as it is so rarely dived it is just stacked with marine life of all kinds, and you don't find globs of sponge that have been kicked off a pylon due to a poorly skilled diver going past.

Other
- Black Rock yacht club 3-7m - it is near the Cerberus but there is a few thousand dollar fine if you get within 20m of the wreck However, lots of critters here such as crabs, stingrays (LOTS of these), blue-ring octopuses and so on. It is not the best side but very close to the city so makes a good night dive after work (that is why I go there ). Nearby is South Road Bommie, which is basically just a Bommie 20m from shore 3-6m depth. Same kind of life here too.

- Ozone + Dominion wrecks at Indented Head 3-5m - this is a favourite site as I can spend over two hours exploring the wrecks as they are quite extensive but in shallow water. Ozone was a paddlesteamer so one of the paddlewheels sticks out of the water

TONNES of marine life. And it is fun to find them all in the wrecks. You can go inside the boilers of the Ozone too if that interests you.

- Backbeaches of Portsea / Sorrento / Blairgowrie - few spots here but only diveable in a blue moon. If there have been northerlies for a few days plus <1ft swell, and low tide is around when we will be there, we always check this out. Amazing dives as the viz is always good and because they are usually surf beaches the rock formations look incredible. Not great for macro life but tonnes of unusual fish you don't see inside the bay. Diamond Bay is the easiest entry / exit (some of them involve rock climbing with your gear pretty much) and is the most likely to be diveable.

 

[devin95]

Wrecks
J-class submarines with depths of 26-40m
Coogee wreck (beautiful for photography) 32m
Eliza Ramsden wreck (20m so can be done with OW)
Lots in the Ship's Graveyard outside Port Phillip Bay but often deeper than rec limits so I am not sure what they are like. My more qualified friends say they are awesome though!

Wall diving
Lonsdale Wall - 1km stretch of wall near the Heads, beautiful sponge life and heaps of fish 9-70m
Nepean Wall - seven gill sharks, lots of crays, 24-60m

Reef diving
Boarfish Reef - shallow reef dive, lots of interesting critters and very colourful
Pope's Eye - old fort foundations that is now a marine park, often an OW course dive as it is very easy depth 6-11m
Castle Rock - big bommie outside the Heads, heaps of stuff to see 18m

Drift diving
Often second boat dives will be drift dives unless you want to wait until the next slack water. Drift dives are so-so. Dive Vic makes you hang on a line with everyone else which usually turns disastrous. Scuttlebutt charter had the best drift I've been on as I could do the drift with an SMB.

Shore diving

Jetties
Well there are heaps of shore dives and jetties are frequently dived, depths are 3-9m usually so you can spend hours there so photographers love them for macro stuff. The jetties include:
- Blairgowrie: diveable in all weather so a good backup shore spot - nudi heaven (I have seen over 50 at least on one dive, at least 12 different species), but also big rays, octopuses, salmon, sea horses
- Rye: easiest pier dive, lots of rays, seahorses, a resident baby seal and an angry maori octopus called 'The Kraken'
- Mornington - blue ring octopus heaven, calamari, seahorses, stingrays, cuttlefish are common here too. Viz tends to be less than 5m though.
- Flinders - you are 99.9% guaranteed to see a weedy sea dragon here. Also massive 2m+ rays, sometimes a seal, calamari.
- Portsea - the most commonly dived pier so don't dive here if you do not like crowds. Bit barren at the moment but nudis, weedy sea dragons (though harder to find than Flinders if you don't know the pier), rays, seahorses, cuttlefish
- Sorrento - only diveable on slack water after the ferry stops at 8pm (so a night dive only) - probably the best pier I have dived though so worth the hassle organising the right time viz is great, and as it is so rarely dived it is just stacked with marine life of all kinds, and you don't find globs of sponge that have been kicked off a pylon due to a poorly skilled diver going past.

Other
- Black Rock yacht club 3-7m - it is near the Cerberus but there is a few thousand dollar fine if you get within 20m of the wreck However, lots of critters here such as crabs, stingrays (LOTS of these), blue-ring octopuses and so on. It is not the best side but very close to the city so makes a good night dive after work (that is why I go there ). Nearby is South Road Bommie, which is basically just a Bommie 20m from shore 3-6m depth. Same kind of life here too.

- Ozone + Dominion wrecks at Indented Head 3-5m - this is a favourite site as I can spend over two hours exploring the wrecks as they are quite extensive but in shallow water. Ozone was a paddlesteamer so one of the paddlewheels sticks out of the water TONNES of marine life. And it is fun to find them all in the wrecks. You can go inside the boilers of the Ozone too if that interests you.

- Backbeaches of Portsea / Sorrento / Blairgowrie - few spots here but only diveable in a blue moon. If there have been northerlies for a few days plus <1ft swell, and low tide is around when we will be there, we always check this out. Amazing dives as the viz is always good and because they are usually surf beaches the rock formations look incredible. Not great for macro life but tonnes of unusual fish you don't see inside the bay. Diamond Bay is the easiest entry / exit (some of them involve rock climbing with your gear pretty much) and is the most likely to be diveable.

 

[clownfishsydney]

Hate to say it, but most of the dives listed above are well outside your level of experience. Personally, I think you should not worry about diving there (not that the diving is not good), as you would really only be able to do the piers.

 

[Gef-Engel]

Best beginner/new to Melbourne dive would have to be Rye or Blairgowrie piers. Really easy, minimal swell and unless it's been raining water quality it usually pretty good. Mid-May is the Spider Crab season at Rye, and they come in en masse to the areas around the pier to shed and eat. If you manage to dive on that day it's probably the most awesome animal focused dive you can do around here. But yeah, regardless of that, Rye and Blairgowrie are the way to go!

 

[Roger30]

Thanks for the info

 

[bergersau]

The water temp will also start to drop. A 7mm semi dry wetsuit with hood and gloves will be the minimum I'd recommend at the moment.

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