Tech Tip: Get the Lead Out!

Adding weight is rarely the solution to a trim problem. In many cases, just removing excess weight from the waist belt will reduce the size of the compensating gas bubble and is often a better approach to adjusting trim. However, sometimes the amount of weight is correct but it needs to be redistributed to correct a trim problem, particularly if aluminium cylinders or drysuits are involved. Proceed cautiously and try to remove weight somewhere else when adding a trim weight because in many cases the diver already has too much weight and adding weight, even trim weight, just makes the problem worse. For help as to how to figure out how much lead you need, please see The Scuba Doctor's Perfect Scuba Diving Weighting guide.

Dutton Way

Shore Dive | Shore access

Dutton Way

Depth: 1 m (3.28 ft) to 6 m (20 ft)

Level: Open Water and beyond.

The Dutton Way dive site lies offshore from Keirana Avenue, north-east of Portland, in Portland Bay (aka Henty Bay) on Victoria's Discovery Coast. It's a great family option with gentle sloped beaches suitable for snorkelling and diving. A kiosk and toilets are available.

The shifting sands offshore from this entire stretch of beach offer fascinating snorkelling opportunities. Shark teeth are a common find for those with a sharp eye, as well as all sorts of other fossilised bones. The sand and weed beds extend well offshore and are mostly in the range of 1 to 6 metres depth.

Best visited in good conditions with a low swell with light winds. See WillyWeather (Portland Bay) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

Dutton Way is named after Captain William Dutton, a whaler, who came to settle in Portland in 1828 (Blake 1977).

Gunditjmara country

Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Gunditjmara people of far south-western Victoria which continues over the state border into a small part of south-east South Australia and is bordered by the Glenelg River to the west and the Wannon River in the north. This truly ancient Country extends 100 metres out to sea from low tide and also includes Deen Maar (aka Lady Julia Percy Island) where the Gunditjmara believe the spirits of their dead travel to wait to be reborn. We wish to acknowledge the Gunditjmara as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Dutton Way Location Map

Latitude: 38° 17.584′ S (38.293072° S / 38° 17′ 35.06″ S)
Longitude: 141° 38.207′ E (141.636776° E / 141° 38′ 12.39″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map | Get directions
Added: 2021-07-23 03:25:58 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-23 18:46:27 GMT
Source: GPS (verified)
Nearest Neighbour: Nargra Reef, 1,821 m, bearing 131°, SE
Portland Bay, Discovery Coast.
Depth: 1 to 6 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.