Grant Bay Beach

Reef Dive | Shore access

Cape Grant Dive Sites
© The Scuba Doctor Australia

Depth: 2 m (6.56 ft) to 10 m (33 ft)

Level: Open Water and beyond.

Grant Bay Beach (aka Quarry Gates) lies at the western end of Grant Bay, about eight kilometres south of Portland, on Victoria's Discovery Coast. The beach is south of the Portland aluminium smelter, just east of the gates on Quarry Road to the Portland Harbour Trust Quarry.

Grant Bay, also known as Crayfish Bay, is located between Point Danger to the east and Cape Sir William Grant to the west. Grant Bay Beach is accessible from Quarry Road, Portland. A car park is located above Grant Bay Beach at the southern end of the public access on Quarry Road. The beach, which lies deep inside the open bay, faces south-east and is 150 metres long. It consists of a cobble and boulder beach, fronted by rocks and a sandy surf zone. The beach is partially protected by the cape and receives waves averaging between 1 and 1.5 metres. These break over the 100 metre wide sand bar and surge heavily up the steep, rocky beach face. There are two permanent rips draining the beach against the rocks at each end.

Diving and Snorkelling at Grant Bay Beach

There are permanent gutters against the rocks at each end of Grant Bay Beach, and deep water off the beach at high tide. Owing to the steep cobble and boulder beach and the presence of the rocks, reefs and permanent rips it's not a site frequently visited.

The most interesting dive is to head south following the eastern side of Cape Sir William Grant.

Grant Bay Beach Parking
© Google Street View

Location: Quarry Road, Portland, Victoria 3305

Parking: There is a car park above Grant Bay Beach at the southern end of the public access on Quarry Road, Portland. Before gearing up check out the water. If you see lots of white water, head on home.

Entry/exit: From the car park, head down to the beach and ente the water. Due to the nature of the beach, some prefer to dive the Grant Bay and Beach area as a boat dive.

Ideal Conditions: Grant Bay Beach faces east. It is protected from offshore south-westerly to north-easterly winds. Moderate to strong easterly to southerly winds are not favourable at this location. Best dived on a low swell.

See WillyWeather (Grant Bay) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

Grant Bay Beach can also be accessed by boat from the Portland Harbour, Lee Breakwater Road North Ramp or the Portland Harbour, Lee Breakwater Road South Ramp.

Abalone Dive Site
© Mark Norman, Museum Victoria

Divers have the opportunity to catch Abalone at this dive site. Remember your catch bag, legal abalone tool, current Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence, and abalone measure. Please abide by all current fishing regulations if you intend to catch abalone.

See article-catching-abalone for practical abalone hunting advice from The Scuba Doctor, plus melbourne-abalone-dives for a list of other Abalone dive sites near Melbourne.

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.

Gunditjmara country

Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Gunditjmara people of far south-western Victoria which continues over the state border into a small part of south-east South Australia and is bordered by the Glenelg River to the west and the Wannon River in the north. This truly ancient Country extends 100 metres out to sea from low tide and also includes Deen Maar (aka Lady Julia Percy Island) where the Gunditjmara believe the spirits of their dead travel to wait to be reborn. We wish to acknowledge the Gunditjmara as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Grant Bay Beach Location Map

Latitude: 38° 23.660′ S (38.394326° S / 38° 23′ 39.57″ S)
Longitude: 141° 37.578′ E (141.626302° E / 141° 37′ 34.69″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map | Get directions
Added: 2022-05-18 06:59:11 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-24 07:33:23 GMT
Source: Google Earth
Nearest Neighbour: Grant Bay Reef, 750 m, bearing 106°, ESE
Grant Bay, Portland, Discovery Coast.
Depth: 2 to 10 m.

[ Top ]

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.