Blanket Bay, Cape Otway

Reef Dive | Shore access

Depth: 1 m (3.28 ft) to 10 m (33 ft)

Level: Open Water and beyond.

Blanket Bay, north-east of Cape Otway on Victoria's Otway Coast, comprises a small collection of fishing and holiday shacks, and the Blanket Bay Campgrounds, located at the end of the circuitous Blanket Bay vehicle track, that runs off the Cape Otway Lighthouse Road. The bay is part of the Cape Otway National Park. A creek flows into the bay.

Blanket Bay Beach faces east and is bordered by forested slopes to the west and rimmed by rocks and reefs to the east. Blanket Bay Beach is protected by the reefs and is used by the fishers to launch their boats. The beach is 200 metres long.

The smaller Blanket Bay North beach is located just north of the bay. Both beaches are fronted by a rock platform and reefs.

The often calm waters off the ever-so-popular Blanket Bay Campground are protected by an intertidal reef. This small beach is often sheltered by the high hills of Cape Otway. Remains of the 1880s jetty built for landing supplies can still be seen at low tide. This all makes for a great opportunity to explore the unique underwater life found within these intertidal rock pools. Snorkelling, diving and spearfishing are popular here.

Blanket Bay is protected by a reef and plenty of submerged rocks. There is plenty of challenging reef to explore and schools of ocean going fish.

How To Get There
Blanket Bay is near the southern tip of Cape Otway, approximately three hours from Melbourne and 15 minutes from the small town of Horden Vale.

From the east, approach Apollo Bay and Cape Otway along the Great Ocean Road (B100) by taking either Anglesea Road or Surf Coast Highway from Geelong.

From Colac, approach through Lavers Hill (inland route C155).

From the west, pick up the Great Ocean Road (B100) by approaching via Port Campbell (inland route C164).

From the Great Ocean Road (B100), take Lighthouse Road (C157) and later turn left onto Blanket Bay Road. Follow the signs to the Blanket Bay Campgrounds.

Weather Required: Diving here requires a day of exceptionally good weather. Waves average 1.5 metres outside the reefs, but are usually less than 1 metre at the beach. Conditions need to be calm, with no swell or rough weather coming in, which means the dive site is best in summer and autumn. Offshore westerly winds will flatten out the sea.

Weak or average swimmers should not consider diving here. It's an exposed site and conditions can change quickly. Beware of waves and tides when visiting this site. See WillyWeather (Blanket Bay) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

Bass Strait Warning: Always keep an eye on sea conditions throughout any shore or boat dive in Bass Strait on Victoria's coastline. Please read the warnings on the web page diving-in-bass-strait before diving or snorkelling this site.

Crayfish Dive Site | © Ian Scholey

Divers have the opportunity to catch Southern Rock Lobster (aka Crayfish) at this dive site. Remember your catch bag, current Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence, rock lobster measure, and cray tags. Once you get back to the dive boat, or shore, make sure you clip the tail and tag your Crayfish as per Fisheries requirements. Please abide by all current fishing regulations if you intend to catch crays. See article-catching-crayfish for practical cray hunting advice from The Scuba Doctor, plus melbourne-cray-dives for a list of other crayfish dive sites near Melbourne. For tips on cooking your Crays, please see article-cooking-crayfish.

See also, Wikipedia: Blanket Bay,
SLS BeachSafe: Blanket Bay,
Parks Victoria: Blanket Bay Campground,
Visitor Guide: Great Otway National Park - Apollo Bay, Cape Otway and surrounds, and
Cape Otway and Blanket Bay in "Shore Dives of Victoria" by Ian Lewis, 3rd edition page 8.

Blanket Bay was probably named by Surveyor George Smythe, who camped here during his 1846 survey. The bay was later used as a landing place for supplies for the Cape Otway lighthouse. (Apollo Bay & District Historical Society).

Eastern Maar country

Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Eastern Maar people of south-western Victoria between the Shaw and Eumerella Rivers and from Yambuk in the south to beyond Lake Linlithgow in the north. This truly ancient Country extends as far north as Ararat and encompasses the coastal townships of Port Fairy in the west, Warrnambool, Peterborough, Port Campbell, Apollo Bay, Lorne, and Airies Inlet in the east, including the Great Ocean Road area. It also stretches 100 metres out to sea from low tide and therefore includes the iconic Twelve Apostles. "Eastern Maar" is a name adopted by the people who identify as Maar, Eastern Gunditjmara, Tjap Wurrung, Peek Whurrong, Kirrae Whurrung, Kuurn Kopan Noot and/or Yarro waetch (Tooram Tribe) amongst others. We wish to acknowledge the Eastern Maar as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Blanket Bay, Cape Otway Location Map

Latitude: 38° 49.708′ S (38.828473° S / 38° 49′ 42.5″ S)
Longitude: 143° 35.041′ E (143.584022° E / 143° 35′ 2.48″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map | Get directions
Added: 2022-03-04 14:31:30 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-03 16:32:23 GMT
Source: Google Earth
Nearest Neighbour: Parker Inlet, Cape Otway, 2,763 m, bearing 226°, SW
Cape Otway National Park, Otway Coast.
Depth: 1 to 10 m.

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DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.

The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.