Lighthouse Reef

Reef Dive | Shore access

Depth: 1 m (3.28 ft) to 4 m (13 ft)

Level: Open Water and beyond.

Lighthouse Reef lies off Whalers Bluff Lighthouse and Whalers Point Beach, north of Portand, in Portland Bay (aka Henty Bay) on Victoria's Discovery Coast.

Whalers Bluff Lighthouse is a lighthouse on Whalers Bluff, also known as Whalers Point, in Portland, Victoria. It stands about 1.5 km north of the city centre and overlooks Portland's harbour.

Whalers Point is a 30 metre high bluff, located one kilometre north of Portland Harbour. Whalers Point Lighthouse stands 41 metres above sea level and was built in 1859. Along the base of the bluff is the narrow, low Whalers Point Beach. The beach is often awash at high tide with waves reaching the bluff. Along Whalers Bluff, a seawall has been built on the beach to protect the bluff from erosion. The beach receive waves averaging about 1 metre, which break over a shallow, attached bar. Some rocks and reefs are present off the beach. It's a steep descent to the beach. Whalers Point Beach is also accessible around the rocks from the northern end of Nuns Beach.

Diving and Snorkelling Lighthouse Reef

Lighthouse Reef is a sheltered reef of about 1.5 square nautical miles. There is an immense diversity of marine life with Weedy Seadragons, Abalone, Crayfish, Cat Sharks, Cuttlefish and more.

On a good day the visibility can be up to 20 metres with white sand on the bottom which makes for a spectacular dive if the sun is out. The wreck of the New Zealander lies nearby.

Location: Portland, Victoria 3305

Parking: There is roadside parking along Bentinck Street, Portland. There is limited parking at the end of Lighthouse Avenue, Portland. Before gearing up check out the water. If you see lots of white water, head on home.

Safety First: This area is frequented by boats, so please make sure you display your dive flag in this area.

Entry/exit: Lighthouse Reef is popular as both a shore or boat dive. As a shore dive you can enter around the rocks from the northern end of Nuns Beach, or from Whalers Point Beach.

Ideal Conditions: Lighthouse Reef faces east. Thus is is protected from south-west to north-west winds. Moderate to strong north-east to south-east winds are not favourable at this location. Best dived on a low swell for the best visibility.

See WillyWeather (Whalers Point) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

Lighthouse Reef can be accessed by boat from the Portland Harbour, Lee Breakwater Road North Ramp or the Portland Harbour, Lee Breakwater Road South Ramp.

If doing this as a boat dive, try using the following GPS mark:
Latitude: 38° 20.244′ S   (38.3374° S / 38° 20′ 14.64″ S)
Longitude: 141° 36.976′ E   (141.616266° E / 141° 36′ 58.56″ E)
728 m, bearing 69°, ENE from the shore entry point. {{southern-ocean-warning}}

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.

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.

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.

 

Lighthouse Reef Location Map

Latitude: 38° 20.379′ S   (38.339658° S / 38° 20′ 22.77″ S)
Longitude: 141° 36.506′ E   (141.608429° E / 141° 36′ 30.34″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map | Get directions
Added: 2022-05-17 07:33:59 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-24 07:34:32 GMT
Source: Google Earth
Nearest Neighbour: New Zealander, 239 m, bearing 44°, NE
Portland, Discovery Coast.
Depth: 1 to 4 m.

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.