St Pauls Rock

Shore Dive | Shore access

St Pauls Rock | © Phil Watson

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

Level: Advanced Open Water and beyond

St Paul's Rock, at the end of St Paul's Road in Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula, faces south-west into Bass Strait. It lies west of the small beach and has a nice swim through tunnel running underneath. The caves here are mystical. There's lots of kelp and at low tide, and even if you have a moderate northerly breeze blowing, chances are this site will be diveable.

St Pauls Road Back Beach, Sorrento | Credit: David Bryant, Seapics

St Pauls Road Parking
© Google Street View

Location: Sorrento, Victoria 3943
MELWAY Ref: Page 156 K11

Parking: There is a small parking for cars at the end of St Pauls Road, Sorrento. Before gearing up check out the water. If you see lots of white water, head on home.

Warning: St Paul Rock is affected by rips, currents, swell and strong winds, thus can be very dangerous. Always go with a buddy and be extremely careful. Experienced divers and snorkellers only.

Entry/Exit: There are steps from the car park that take you down onto St Pauls Beach to the west of St Pauls Rock.

Ideal Conditions: To dive here it must be calm with flat seas and very little to no swell. The only acceptable winds are light northerly to north-easterly. Be aware that conditions here can change very quickly. Very little swell (less than 6 ft, with periods of 10s or more) which generally means 3-4 days of northerly to north-easterly winds prior to diving here.

See WillyWeather (St Pauls Beach) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

Back Beach Warning: Always keep an eye on sea conditions throughout any dive on the Back Beaches of the Mornington Peninsula. Please read the warnings on the web page diving-the-back-beaches before diving or snorkelling this site.

See also, Saint Paul's Road and Jubilee Point in "Shore Dives of Victoria" by Ian Lewis, 3rd edition page 114.

St Pauls Road Back Beach, Sorrento is just a 10-minute drive from The Scuba Doctor Dive Shop. Please drop in and catch up with us before and/or after your dive.

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.

 

St Pauls Rock Location Map

Latitude: 38° 21.138′ S   (38.352292° S / 38° 21′ 8.25″ S)
Longitude: 144° 44.053′ E   (144.734219° E / 144° 44′ 3.19″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map | Get directions
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-04-06 23:23:00 GMT
Source: Google Earth
Nearest Neighbour: Jubilee Point, 361 m, bearing 157°, SSE
Sorrento, Back Beaches, Mornington Peninsula.
Depth: 1 to 6 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.