Killarney Beach

Reef Dive | Shore access

Killarney Beach
© Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism

Depth: 2 m (6.56 ft) to 18 m (59 ft)

Level: Open Water and beyond.

Killarney Beach is located between Warrnambool to the east and Port Fairy to the west, just over one kilometre from the Princes Highway (A1) on Victoria's Shipwreck Coast.

Killarney Beach is known for its beautiful swimming beach protected by offshore reefs. Truly is a hidden gem with Victoria's best whiting fishing, safe snorkeling and paddling in a natural lagoon, pristine surf beaches, amazing birdlife and endless beach walking.

Diving and Snorkelling at Killarney Beach

The one kilometre long, south facing Killarney Beach is protected by continuous offshore reefs and waves are usually low to calm at the beach. The bar is shallow and continuous with usually no rips.

One of the best dives around Port Fairy, Killarney Beach has lots of fish and invertebrate life.

There are several other reefs in the area which run out to sea from the sandy shore.

Killarney Beach Parking
© Google Street View

Location: Killarney, Victoria 3283

Parking: There is car park at the end of Mahoneys Road, Killarney, and is just over one kilometre from the Princes Highway (A1). Before gearing up check out the water. If you see lots of white water, head on home.

Facilities: There is a large oval, playground, and a boat ramp nearby for your convenience. The Killarney Beach Caravan Park has caravan and camping facilities. There is even a sporting oval.

Entry/Exit: From Killarney Beach.

Ideal Conditions: Diving Killarney Beach 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.

Boats can be launched at the Port Fairy, Griffiths Street Boat Ramp or the Killarney Bay East Boat Ramp.

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.

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.

 

Killarney Beach Location Map

Latitude: 38° 21.397′ S   (38.356618° S / 38° 21′ 23.82″ S)
Longitude: 142° 18.529′ E   (142.308812° E / 142° 18′ 31.72″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map | Get directions
Added: 2022-05-19 03:21:28 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-23 19:15:25 GMT
Source: Google Earth
Nearest Neighbour: Mills Reef Beach, 1,570 m, bearing 253°, WSW
Killarney, Shipwreck Coast.
Depth: 2 to 18 m.

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.