18 Metre Reef

Reef Dive | Boat access

Depth: 12 m (39 ft) to 18 m (59 ft)

Level: Open Water and beyond.

18 Metre Reef lies off Collendina on the Barwon Coast, east of Ocean Grove and west of Point Lonsdale just outside Port Phillip Heads in Bass Strait.

It's in an area of scattered reef with depths ranging from 12 to 18 metres. This area is renowned for Crayfish and Abalone and possible sightings of Weedy Seadragons.

Rock formations and bommies rising up from a max depth of 18 metres on the seabed, ledges with a top covering of kelp, cracks and crevasses make this ideal haven for fish and critters to find protection when needed. In the protection of the ledges and overhangs, you are likely to see delicate fans and soft corals plus fish including Southern Blue Devil.

This area is not affected by current, but as with all dives close inshore it can be affected by surge.

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.

Location: Ocean Grove, Victoria 3226

Finding the 18 Metre Reef

Over the years we've been provided with different GPS marks for the 18 Metre Reef. The GPS marks we know of in circulation for the 18 Metre Reef are:

• John Lawler GPS:
  Latitude: 38° 17.314′ N   (38.288567° N / 38° 17′ 18.84″ N)
  Longitude: 144° 34.335′ E   (144.57225° E / 144° 34′ 20.1″ E)
• Dive Victoria:
  Latitude: 38° 17.663′ S   (38.29438333° S / 38° 17′ 39.78″ S)
  Longitude: 144° 35.323′ E   (144.5887167° E / 144° 35′ 19.38″ E)
  1,576 m, bearing 114°, ESE

It would be interesting for someone to check out these dive sites and report back to us what, if anything, is there.

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.

Wathaurong (Wadda-Warrung) country

Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Wathaurong (Wadda-Warrung) people of the Kulin Nation. This truly ancient Country includes the coastline of Port Phillip, from the Werribee River in the north-east, the Bellarine Peninsula, and down to Cape Otway in the south-west. We wish to acknowledge the Wathaurong 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.

 

18 Metre Reef Location Map

Latitude: 38° 17.314′ S   (38.288567° S / 38° 17′ 18.84″ S)
Longitude: 144° 34.335′ E   (144.57225° E / 144° 34′ 20.1″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-04-29 02:04:26 GMT
Source: John Lawler GPS
Nearest Neighbour: The Ledges, 86 m, bearing 133°, SE
Ocean Grove, Barwon Coast.
Depth: 12 to 18 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.