South East Point

Wall Dive | Boat access

South East Point | © Steve Cartlidge

Depth: 5 m (16 ft) to 70 m (230 ft)

Level: Advanced Open Water and beyond.

South East Point is an interesting dive site at the tip of a small peninsula jutting south-east out into the often wild seas of Bass Strait from Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, Australia. It's located within the Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park and is a very rewarding boat dive site for adventurous divers.

South East Point is also the site of the Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse, built in 1859 from local granite. The lighthouse and its historic residences are the southernmost settlement on the Australian mainland.

Diving South East Point at Wilsons Promontory

South East Point is a very remote dive site location, only accessible with a dive boat. The lighthouse looks down from the top of the cliff above the dive site. Underwater the wall plunges steeply to the bottom at 70 metres, with plenty of boulders, caves and swim throughs to explore.

South East Point is current swept, and the usual kelp and soft corals can be found. There is the chance to find some old things here as the lighthouse staff sometimes discarded things like old wheelbarrows off the cliffs.

South East Point drops off steeper than most mainland dive sites, and is well worth a dive on the rare days conditions allow.

Ideal Conditions: South East Point is best dived with calm seas, no swell and no wind. Light offshore westerly to northerly winds may be acceptable. Avoid diving with moderate to strong onshore south-westerly to north-easterly winds. Because of the depths that can be reached here, plus the sometimes strong currents, South East Point is best dived at slack water. See WillyWeather (Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse) 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.

Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park

This site lies in Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park, Victoria's largest marine sanctuary. There is a huge diversity of marine life within the waters at the Prom. Brilliantly coloured fish are present such as the Red Velvetfish, Eastern Blue Groper and Wrasse as well as Leafy Seadragons and schools of Barber Perch. Intertidal molluscs such as limpets and snails, as well as anemones, brittlestars and seastars, are also common within the waters.

Divers will experience fascinating sponge gardens which consist of a techni-coloured assemblage of sponges, sea tulips, sea whips, lace corals and seafans. Octopus emerge at night whilst sharks and rays roam the sandy areas.

The offshore islands support many colonies of fur seals and oceanic birds such as Little Penguins, Fairy Prions, Silver Gulls and Pacific Gulls.

You are not permitted to carry a spear gun while snorkelling or scuba diving in Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park.

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.

South East Point Location Map

Latitude: 39° 7.861′ S (39.131012° S / 39° 7′ 51.64″ S)
Longitude: 146° 25.529′ E (146.425478° E / 146° 25′ 31.72″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map
Added: 2022-04-21 00:15:15 GMT, Last updated: 2022-04-23 03:13:08 GMT
Source: Google Earth
Nearest Neighbour: Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse Landing, 770 m, bearing 352°, N
Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park.
Depth: 5 to 70 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.