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Rip Bank

Wall Dive Wall Dive | Boat access Boat access

Advanced Open Water Rated Crayfish Dive Site Outside Port Phillip Reef Dive Site Slack Water Technical Rated

Rip Bank
Rip Bank | © Phil Watson

Depth: 16 m (52 ft) to 60 m (197 ft)

Rip Bank is a fantastic underwater cliff just outside Port Phillip Heads on the south-east side. The currents through here dictate this dive only be conducted on slack water at the end of the flood tide and even then only when conditions are calm outside Port Phillip. The passage of the current here runs along the wall and can be extremely fast.


Diving Rip Bank | © Andrew Siddel

Rip Bank Cray and Blue Devil
Rip Bank Cray and Blue Devil
© Ian Scholey

There are a lot of Southern Rock Lobster (aka Crayfish) to be caught along the top of the wall. The wall itself is very steep with large overhangs and beautiful colours. Southern Blue Devil can often be seen here.

The other great thing about this dive is that divers frequently get to see Sharks swimming along the wall. They tend to swim about 10 to 15 metres from the wall and just cruise past checking things out. The sharks are typically Sharpnose Sevengill Shark and are listed as harmless. They look a little like Grey Nurse Sharks and can grow up to 1.4 metres long.


Rip Bank Revealed, Underwater Port Phillip Heads | © Great Southern Reef

See WillyWeather (Rip Bank) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

Dive charter boats regularly schedule dives on Rip Bank, heading out from Portsea and Queenscliff. Private dive boats usually launch at the Sorrento Boat Ramp or the Queenscliff Boat Ramp.

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
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.

Finding the Rip Bank

Over the years we've been provided with different GPS marks for the Rip Bank. The GPS marks we know of in circulation for the Rip Bank are:

  • GPS
    Latitude: 38° 18.153′ S   (38.30255° S / 38° 18′ 9.18″ S)
    Longitude: 144° 38.181′ E   (144.63635° E / 144° 38′ 10.86″ E)
  • Geoff Rodda:
    Latitude: 38° 18.048′ S   (38.3008° S / 38° 18′ 2.88″ S)
    Longitude: 144° 38.119′ E   (144.63531666667° E / 144° 38′ 7.14″ E)

    214 m, bearing 335°, NNW
Boon Wurrung / Bunurong country
Boon Wurrung / Bunurong country

Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Boon Wurrung / Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation. This truly ancient Country includes parts of Port Phillip, from the Werribee River in the north-west, down to Wilson's Promontory in the south-east, including the Mornington Peninsula, French Island and Phillip Island, plus Western Port. We wish to acknowledge the Boon Wurrung as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Bunjil the Creator Spirit of this beautiful land, who travels as an eagle, and Waarn, who protects the waterways and travels as a crow, and thank them for continuing to watch over this Country today and beyond.

 

Rip Bank Location Map

Latitude: 38° 18.153′ S   (38.30255° S / 38° 18′ 9.18″ S)
Longitude: 144° 38.181′ E   (144.63635° E / 144° 38′ 10.86″ E)

Datum: WGS84 | Google Map
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-04-06 21:31:50 GMT
Source: GPS
Nearest Neighbour: Outer Corsair Wall, 32 m, bearing 185°, S
Depth: 16 to 60 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.

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