Rabbit Island, South

Reef Dive | Boat access

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

Level: Advanced Open Water and beyond.

Rabbit Island, South is a boat dive site for adventurous divers on the southern side of Rabbit Island, a small, granite island 1.6 km off the north-eastern coast of Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, Australia. The island lies within the Wilsons Promontory Marine Park, and the Rabbit Island South dive site faces south out into the often wild seas of Bass Strait. The island was named in 1842 by Captain John Lort Stokes after the numerous rabbits, descendants of those left by sealers to provide a food supply for sailors.

Diving Rabbit Island, South

On the southern side of Rabbit Island you'll find a weedy, rocky bottom. This area has the usual array of shallow reef species such as Wrasse, Dusky Morwong and Old Wives. The offshore area can be current affected with relatively poor visibility at times, so some caution is required. The shallows are also sometimes affected by surge, particularly on the southern shore.

See also the nearby Rabbit Island, North dive site.

Ideal Conditions: Rabbit Island South is best dived with calm seas, no swell and no wind. Light offshore north-westerly to north-easterly winds may be acceptable. Because of the sometimes strong currents, Rabbit Island, South is best dived at slack water. See WillyWeather (Rabbit Island) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

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.

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.

Rabbit Island, South Location Map

Latitude: 38° 54.839′ S (38.913975° S / 38° 54′ 50.31″ S)
Longitude: 146° 30.602′ E (146.510025° E / 146° 30′ 36.09″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map
Added: 2022-04-22 01:54:20 GMT, Last updated: 2022-04-22 14:36:53 GMT
Source: Google Earth
Nearest Neighbour: Rabbit Island, North, 683 m, bearing 19°, NNE
Wilsons Promontory Marine Park.
Rabbit Island, Bass Strait.
Depth: 2 to 10 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.