Mallacoota - Cape Everard Wilsons Promontory Westernport Bay - Flinders
Melbourne - Port Phillip Bay Geelong - Queenscliff Port Campbell Warrnambool
Portland has some of southern Australia's best scuba diving, snorkeling and underwater photography.
There would be few other places in the world where you can dive with fur seals from the shore, explore fascinating caves and colourful sponge gardens, swim through kelp forests, drop down walls to 70 m, dive on complete shipwrecks, and find leafy and weedy sea dragons, little penguins, southern right whales, and a host of other animals, all within a few kilometres of each other.
Located close to the Victorian and South Australian border, Portland has some of southern Australias best diving. There would be few other places in the world where you can dive with fur seals from the shore, explore fascinating caves and colourful sponge gardens, swim through kelp forests, drop down walls to 70 m, dive on complete shipwrecks, and find leafy and weedy sea dragons, little penguins, southern right whales, and a host of other animals, all within a few kilometres of one town.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Portland is a deep-water port, 375 km from Melbourne, best known for its commerce and industry. Tourists are slowly discovering its many attractions, especially its great diving. You can dive from the shore or try a boat dive run by Professional Diving Services. They have approximately 160 sites to choose from, so variety is the name of the game.
The Vermillion Biscuit Star Pentagonaster dubeni is found from southern Queensland, south, to south Western Australia. Within this enormous range its shape and colour are very variable.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Bridgewater Bay
Approximately 250 fur seals are found here year round, and close encounters with seals are guaranteed on this shore dive, as these friendly animals seem to enjoy swimming with divers. The bottom of the bay (12 m deep) has areas of rocky reef, kelp and sandy patches. While the seals are the highlight of any dive, catsharks, stingarees, flounder, leatherjackets and other reef fish are also common.
All along the southern coast the Australian Fur seals are rebounding from the early onslaughts by sealers and now only have to contend with the upsurge in underwater photographers and the usual White Pointers.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Not always easy to find, the Cleft Sea Star Meridiastra fissurata is endemic to Victoria and South Australia. It is generally located beneath rocks and grows to 25 mm. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Nunns Bay
Another one of the many shore dives around Portland is the rocky reef at Nunns Beach which slopes down to 12 m in sheltered waters. This is a great place to see leafy and weedy sea dragons, although their natural camouflage makes them hard to find in the kelp. Also common are conger eels, sweep, perch, morwong, leatherjackets, wrasse, catsharks and a good variety of invertebrates.
Wilsons Conger Eel Conger wilsoni ranges along the southern coast where it can be found beneath ledges and in crevices in rocky reefs.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Cappers Camp
The climb down a cliff face might put off some divers, but this is an excellent shore dive. Rocky pools and gutters lie in depths to 14 m, and under ledges and among the kelp are many rock lobsters, catsharks, shrimp, cuttlefish, octopi and nudibranchs. The reef has plenty of reef fish, most morwong, sweep, perch, leatherjackets and wrasse.
A very distinctive species, the Senator Wrasse Pictilabrus laticlavius is a southern Australian endemic that can be found to the Queensland border and around to south Western Australia. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Saxon Shipwreck
Deliberately sunk to form an artificial reef, this ship is located in a sheltered bay in only 9 m of water. You can explore the bridge, wheelhouse and funnel, or the limestone reef where the wreckage lies. The wreck has attracted many reef fish, including sweep, weedfish, ling cod, bullseyes, scorpionfish, perch, morwong, boarfish and wrasse.
Bryozoans are not always easy to identify in the wild and although this one is found all along the southern coast, it has only been determined to the genus Celleporaria. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Emily S Shipwreck
Sunk in 1991 to form an artificial reef, this 30 m-long ship sits in 23 m of water, with the deck in 18 m. The ship is still essentially intact, and home to countless reef fish. Divers can safely enter the wheelhouse and other parts of the wreck, which are covered in jewel corallimorphs and sponges.
Very difficult to see in natural habitat, (even as a close up) Forsters Weedfish Heteroclinus forsteri is a master of camouflage.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Lawrence Rocks
These rocks offer some of the most spectacular diving off Portland. On the lee side, you have the choice of diving many different types of terrain. A lovely kelp forest lies in 5-12 m of water (which is thickest over winter), with plenty of reef fish and invertebrates. Along the sides of the rocks many ledges drop into 45 m, with pretty sponge gardens, a good place to see nudibranchs, sea stars, numerous reef fish, and schools of kingfish and mullet. Explore the gully that cuts through the rocks, when a swell is running it can be an exhilarating experience. The gully leads to an amphitheatre in 33 m of water, where you fill find sponge gardens and plenty of fish. If conditions are calm enough, try a dive along the exposed side of the rocks, where the wall drops into 70 m.
Generally seen on offshore reefs, Kingfish Seriola grandis school around bommies and pinnacles where they prey on smaller schooling species and get cleaned. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Southwest Bay
A great dive site known as Shark Alley is actually a deep gutter reaching 21 m in depth. This gutter is usually packed with wobbegongs and Port Jackson sharks, resting on top of one another. The gutter can also be brimming over with fish, bullseyes, yellowtail, pike, whiting, mullet, morwong and perch. One of the gutter walls is known as the wall of gorgonians. Thousands of gorgonians line the gutter, as well as sponges, ascidians, bryozoans and zoanthids. Have a close look at the wall and you will find sea stars, basket stars, nudibranchs, shrimp, sea spiders and crabs.
Many other excellent shore and boat dives on reefs and wrecks are accessible off Portland. Over winter, southern right whales come in close to the coast to calve and mate, and this is one of the few places in the world where the rare pygmy right whale has been seen. A number of penguin colonies are found in the area, on almost any dive there is a chance of seeing a penguin in the water. Good conditions can be experienced year-round at Portland, and plenty of sheltered sites can be dived in windy weather.
Mallacoota - Cape Everard Wilsons Promontory Westernport Bay - Flinders
Melbourne - Port Phillip Bay Geelong - Queenscliff Port Campbell Warrnambool
Neville Coleman's diving expeditions, fauna surveys, photographic fauna surveys and marine life identification courses include every major group of marine life.
Neville Coleman's expertise in marine life identification extends to the identification of Algae, Sea Grass, Forams, Sponges, Stony Corals, Soft Corals, Sea Anemones, Sea Jellies, Zoanthids, Corallimorphs, Black Corals, Flatworms, Segmented Worms, Crustaceans, Barnacles, Shrimps, Rock Lobsters, Hermit Crabs, Squat Lobsters, Molluscs, Chitons, Univalves, Bivalves, Cephalopods, Octopus, Cuttlefish, Squid, Opisthobranchs, Nudibranchs, Sea Slugs, Bryozoans, Sea Mosses, Echinoderms, Sea Stars, Feather Stars, Brittle Stars, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, Ascidians/Sea Squirts, Marine Fish, Sharks, Marine Reptiles, and Marine Mammals, all found in the waters around Portland.
( Copyright Neville Coleman/Nigel Marsh)
