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SHORTLAND BLUFF DRIFT

Queenscliff, Victoria

Type of dive:

Drift

Snorkelling:

No, too deep!

Scuba:

Open Water (Advanced recommended)

Access:

Boat only (10-20 minutes)

Depth:

9 – 21 metres (30-70’)

Visibility:

5 – 25 metres (15-80’)

Water temperature:

11 – 22°C (52-72°F)

Seasonal:

No, but November to June best

The strong currents at the entrance of Port Phillip Bay allow for exhilarating high speed drift dives!

Queenscliff is a quaint little tourist town on the Bellarine Peninsula, just over an hour by road from Melbourne, is the perfect base for accessing the fantastic variety of dives on offer around Port Phillip Heads. Dives can also be accessed from Portsea on the east side of the Bay.

Prior to the 1850’s gold rush, Queenscliff was a tiny fishing village and the base of the Port Phillip Sea Pilots. Sea pilots are still required to navigate ships through the treacherous ‘Rip’; the entrance to Port Phillip Bay.

One side of the town borders on Swan Bay and the other side Shortland Bluff, a headland overlooking Port Phillip Bay and the ‘Rip’.

After the 1850’s Victorian gold rush, Queenscliff flourished. The Queenscliff Fort and two lighthouses, one white and one black, were built on the Bluff to provide vessels a safer entry to the Bay. The two lighthouses form the main leads for ships entering Port Phillip Bay, and the black lighthouse is one of only three black lighthouses in the world.

Queenscliff’s history abounds with stories of Benito’s Treasure. Benito was a notorious pirate rumoured to have buried his stash in Queenscliff but despite many efforts, the treasure is still to be found.

Shortland Bluff is a sandstone bluff rising some 15 metres (50’) above sea level and beyond the Bluff, the sandstone extends east into the Bay where, over many thousands of years, it has been sculptured by the strong tides prevalent to the Port Phillip Heads.

Tides change direction every six hours and runs at speeds of up to 8 knots (15 kph/9 mph) allowing divers to travel over two kilometres (one mile) in just a short 30 minutes.

Drift dives can be done on either tide, but are best done on the incoming flood tide which brings in clear Bass Strait water and prevents divers from ending up in the busy shipping channel, the South Channel on the outgoing ebb tide.

Shipping traffic must be checked before commencing a drift dive and care must be taken to avoid the Lonsdale Wall, which exceeds 40 metres (130’), when conducting a drift on an ebb tide.

Good buoyancy control is absolutely essential!

A typical flood drift begins on low lying, kelp-covered sandstone reef and as Shortland Bluff is passed, huge sandstone yellow zoanthids-covered rock bommies appear rising three to five metres (10-15’) off the bottom.

In clear water, the sight of these bommies is spectacular!

Once past the bommies, the terrain to the east changes to a sandy flat bottom covered with beautiful large sponges. It is not unusual to find antique bottles discarded by fisherman in the Nineteenth Century which are exposed from time to time by the shifting sands.

Other great dive sites to visit while you are there:

Popes Eye, Boarfish Reef, Fog Reef, Lonsdale Wall and Portsea Hole.

Local dive services: