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Scuba Diving Masks
A scuba diving mask (not swimming goggles) is an essential piece of equipment for any diver. Masks are usually sold as being one size fits all faces. All masks differ in size depending on brand and style within the brand and thus some will achieve a better fit on your face than others. The main variable in this sizing is your head size and face shape. As this is so individual to every person we cannot offer any guaranteed sizing advise. However, in the mask descriptions we have tried to indicate if each mask is more suited to petite, small, medium or large faces. But there are no easy rules to follow. Sometimes a mask that seems more suited to a small face works well on a big face. Generally, the more expensive masks have better quality mask skirts and better quality skirts seal on a wider range of face sizes.
The best thing to do is try the mask on your face and check how well it seals. For details about How to Quickly Check a Scuba Mask for Fit please read our Buyers Guide: Buying a Great Dive Mask.
Prescription/Corrective Lens Diving Masks: Eager to try scuba diving, but feel worried about the practicality of it because of your eyesight? If you wear glasses and need some assistance seeing clearly when diving or snorkelling, The Scuba Doctor is Australia's largest supplier of Prescription Lens Masks.
Technical Tip
Why Black Skirt Diving and Snorkelling Masks Are Better
Clear skirts on diving and snorkelling masks are popular because they minimise the claustrophobic feeling some people get when they wear a mask. Nevertheless, clear skirts actually interfere with vision. Extraneous light entering through the clear skirt makes it more difficult for the eye to focus and causes reflections that obscure vision. Demonstrate this by looking out a window from a lighted room at twilight. You will see better by cupping your hands around your eyes as you press your face to the window. For these reasons, knowledgeable divers and snorkellers seeking the best possible vision prefer masks with black skirts.
Note: Diving/snorkelling masks are very different to Swimming Goggles. See Goggles vs Masks.
The Basin
Shore Dive | 
Shore access
The Basin
Depth: 2 m (6.56 ft) to 5 m (16 ft)
Level: Open Water and beyond.
The Basin (aka Pelicans) diving and snorkelling site is a south-east facing, protected section of beach in the lee of Sisters Point, off the Princes Highway near Killarney between Port Fairy and Warrnambool on Victoria's Shipwreck Coast. The low basalt points and offshore barrier reefs reduce the waves, and form two beaches bordered by the low points and backed by grassy dunes. This site features sheltered beaches and rock pools.
To access The Basin beach, take the unsealed Basin Track from Mahoneys Road, near Killarney Beach. Long vehicles are not recommended as the track and car park are narrow. Boat launching is permitted at The Basin. It is across beach sand, so a 4WD vehicle is recommended. Please return all vehicles with trailers to the car park after launching and retrieving boats, to keep the beach clear and safe for visitors and wildlife.
The 600 metre long The Basin East beach receives waves averaging about 1 metre, which break across a wide bar. A few rips exist along the beach and there is a permanent rip against the basalt rocks below the car park.
The smaller, 100 metre long The Basin West beach has lower waves and usually a continuous, shallow bar with no rips.
The safe entry points provide dive and snorkel sites over lush seaweed beds. Snorkellers can take advantage of the occasionally crystal clear blue waters alive with magnificent underwater kelp habitat and its residents. It is worth a look in poor weather.
The Basin can be dived as a shore dive off the beach, or as a boat dive launching at the Killarney Bay East Boat Ramp. Diving The Basin requires calm conditions and a very low swell. See WillyWeather (Killarney Beach) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.
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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.
The Basin Location Map
Latitude: 38° 21.322′ S (38.35536° S / 38° 21′ 19.3″ S)
Longitude: 142° 20.140′ E (142.335664° E / 142° 20′ 8.39″ E)
Datum: WGS84 |
Google Map
| Get directions
Added: 2021-06-23 17:34:09 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-23 19:16:11 GMT
Source: Google Earth
Nearest Neighbour: Rogers Rocks, 661 m, bearing 66°, ENE
Killarney, Shipwreck Coast.
Depth: 2 to 5 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.
![Halcyon Infinity 30lb System [SS Small Backplate]](/diveshop/images/halcyon/Halcyon-Evolve-Wing.jpg "Halcyon Infinity 30lb System [SS Small Backplate]")
