Sorrento Back Beach

Reef Dive | Shore access

Sorrento Back Beach | © Film Victoria

Depth: 2 m (6.56 ft) to 20 m (66 ft)

Level: Advanced Open Water and beyond

Sorrento Back Beach (aka Sorrento Ocean Beach) lies at the end of Ocean Beach Road, 1.5 km south of the town of Sorrento on the back beaches of the Mornington Peninsula facing south-west into Bass Strait. There is a large car park and a picnic area, as well the Sorrento Surf Lifesaving Club, on the bluffs behind the beach.

Sorrento Back Beach lies in a natural amphitheatre formed by the protruding western headland and the patchy offshore reefs. The beach faces south-west and waves average 1.6 metres over the reefs, but are lower at the beach. Here they have built one of the wider beaches in this section of the coastline, with a continuous attached bar.

Sorrento Back Beach Shore Dives

The three main dive sites from the shore at Sorrento Back Beach are:

1. The rock platforms by the headland are best if you want to explore the headland area.
2. You can head in off the beach and explore the areas around Darby Rock and Pulpit Rock. Snorkellers seem to prefer this.
3. There is a wooden pathway that takes you down onto the beach west of the surf life saving club and south from Coppins Lookout. From there, when the tide is retreating, you can make your way to the gullies at Sphinx Rock, west of Sorrento Back Beach.
   Danger: The beach to Sphinx Rock is impassable at high tide.

The walk at Sorrento Back Beach is slightly easier than many of the other back beach dives. Though during the summer months it gets really busy as lots of families bring down the kids to swim in the large artificial rock pool. Go early to get a decent park!

Be sure to always take a dive flag and a knife. You might also want to take a catch bag down here too! Abalone and crayfish can be found here. Be sure to always carry the appropriate measuring device as the rangers have been known to join you in the water as well as wait on shore.

It is recommended to dive here the first time with someone who is familiar with the area and has dived here before. Be aware of the walks involved. It's not for the unfit!

Sorrento Back Beach Parking
© Google Street View

Location: Sorrento, Victoria 3943
MELWAY Ref: Page 156 H9

Parking: There is parking for cars at the end of Ocean Beach Road, Sorrento near the Sorrento Surf Life Saving Club. Before gearing up check out the water. If you see lots of white water, head on home.

Warning:As an ocean beach Sorrento Back Beach is affected by rips, currents, swell and strong winds, thus can be very dangerous. Always go with a buddy and be extremely careful. Experienced divers and snorkellers only.

Ideal Conditions: To dive here it must be calm with flat seas and very little to no swell. The only acceptable winds are light northerly to north-easterly. Be aware that conditions here can change very quickly. Very little swell (less than 6 ft, with periods of 10s or more) which generally means 3-4 days of northerly to north-easterly winds prior to diving here.

See WillyWeather (Sorrento Back Beach) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

Back Beach Warning: Always keep an eye on sea conditions throughout any dive on the Back Beaches of the Mornington Peninsula. Please read the warnings on the web page diving-the-back-beaches before diving or snorkelling this site.

Sorrento Back Beach Boat Dives

Out through Port Phillip Heads past Point Nepean to the south-east lies the Sorrento Back Beach dive site. Although some of this area can be dived as a shore dive a lot can't. It's these areas we venture to by dive boat in order to explore the lovely reefs and rocky outcrops.

The incredible ledges and overhangs here are usually a haven for Crayfish, snapper and other lovely edible and photogenic critters. A great dive when the seas are calm and the wind has blown from the north for a few days.

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.

See also, Parks Victoria: Sorrento Back Beach and
Sorrento Back Beach and Sphinx Rock in "Shore Dives of Victoria" by Ian Lewis, 3rd edition page 113.

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.

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.

 

Sorrento Back Beach Location Map

Latitude: 38° 20.757′ S   (38.345956° S / 38° 20′ 45.44″ S)
Longitude: 144° 43.619′ E   (144.726981° E / 144° 43′ 37.13″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map | Get directions
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-04-29 12:53:43 GMT
Source: GPS
Nearest Neighbour: St Pauls Rock, 946 m, bearing 138°, SE
Sorrento, Back Beaches, Mornington Peninsula.
Depth: 6 to 20 m.
Dive only on: SWF, SWE, Ebb, Flood.

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.