Pier Dive | Shore access
Depth: 1 m (3.28 ft) to 7 m (23 ft)
Level: Open Water and beyond.
Built in 1870, Sorrento Pier is located at the western end of Sorrento Front Beach under the rocky outcrop known as Policemans Point and is visited by both recreational and commercial vessels. The pier has a depth of 3 metres at the head and juts out in a north-easterly direction into Port Phillip from the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. Sorrento Pier provides access across Port Phillip to Queenscliff via a 40 minute ferry ride.
Wait until the ferry stops for the day (usually 8:30 pm), then head straight out from where the ferry docks. You can dive under the pier but you're likely to find the most interesting stuff on the pylons of the ferry terminal. That's why it's a must to make sure all the ferries have finished for the day!
Not often dived because of the restrictions and conditions required, but well worth it if you can get there for the night dive!
You need a permit to dive off the pier so it's a good idea to do a shore entry. You'll find weedy seadragons and great macro life also a large colony of sponges over the pier's pylons. You may come across some stingrays, old wives, flathead, squid, sometimes an eel and plenty of nudibranchs.
You may also find old bottles here. It is quite popular for divers to forage here for marble ones. Because of the sand movement and the ferry it often uncovers more bottles. Sorrento Pier was once popular with old bay steamers and visitors who would drop and throw empties from the pier. A good area to find bottles is often east of the ferry terminal.
See also, Sorrento Pier in "Shore Dives of Victoria" by Ian Lewis, 3rd edition pages 102–103.
Location: Esplanade, Sorrento, Victoria 3943
MELWAY Ref: Page 157 C7
Parking: There is car parking along Esplanade as you approach the entrance to the ferry, plus a large car park to the left which makes it easy to get a park in winter. It's always busy in summer.
Facilities: There is a large range of cafes and pubs on the main street of Sorrento and public toilets in the car park.
Ideal Conditions: You're going to want to dive here as close to slack water as possible because of how close Sorrento Pier is to a channel. It gets quite a lot of current. The dive site is very prone to strong currents, so plan ahead.
See WillyWeather (Sorrento Pier) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.
Sorrento Pier is just a 15-minute drive from The Scuba Doctor Dive Shop. Please drop in and catch up with us before and/or after your dive.
Heritage Warning: Any shipwreck or shipwreck relic that is 75 years or older is protected by legislation. Other items of maritime heritage 75 years or older are also protected by legislation. Activities such as digging for bottles, coins or other artefacts that involve the disturbance of archaeological sites may be in breach of the legislation, and penalties may apply. The legislation requires the mandatory reporting to Heritage Victoria as soon as practicable of any archaeological site that is identified. See Maritime heritage. Anyone with information about looting or stolen artefacts should call Heritage Victoria on (03) 7022 6390, or send an email to heritage.victoria@delwp.vic.gov.au.
Spearfishing is illegal within 30 metres of any pier or jetty and in Marine National Parks. See Spearfishing Laws.
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.
Sorrento Pier Location Map
Latitude: 38° 20.141′ S (38.335677° S / 38° 20′ 8.44″ S)
Longitude: 144° 44.753′ E (144.745887° E / 144° 44′ 45.19″ E)
Datum: WGS84 |
Google Map
| Get directions
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-04-15 14:24:03 GMT
Source: Google Earth
Nearest Neighbour: Sorrento Boat Moorings, 262 m, bearing 323°, NW
Sorrento, Mornington Peninsula, Port Phillip.
Depth: 1 to 7 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.
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