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The Cathedral

Reef Dive Reef Dive | Boat access Boat access

Advanced Open Water Rated Crayfish Dive Site Deep Rated Inside Port Phillip Reef Dive Site Slack Water Subject to Shipping Technical Rated

Depth: 22 m (72 ft) to 60 m (197 ft)

Level: Advanced Open Water and beyond.

The Cathedral (aka Cathedral Reef) is a dive site situated on a reef that runs East to West on the eastern edge of the main shipping channel in Port Phillip. The top of the reef is in 20 plus metres, most of the dive at this site will be spent in the 30 to 40 metre range.

The name arises from the fantastic Pinnacle and Bommies that rise 4 or 5 metres above the top of the reef. There is also a huge cave at 32 metres, with a swim-through at the back, leading out to the top of the reef. This site can only be dived when there is no shipping and at slack water at the end of the ebb tide.

The Rip & Tides Warning: Always keep an eye on sea conditions throughout any shore or boat dive within "The Rip" (aka "The Heads"). This is a dangerous stretch of water, where Bass Straight meets Port Phillip, which has claimed many ships and lives. Please read the warnings on the web page diving-the-rip before diving or snorkelling this site.

Crayfish Dive Site
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.

Wathaurong (Wadda-Warrung) country
Wathaurong (Wadda-Warrung) country

Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Wathaurong (Wadda-Warrung) people of the Kulin Nation. This truly ancient Country includes the coastline of Port Phillip, from the Werribee River in the north-east, the Bellarine Peninsula, and down to Cape Otway in the south-west. We wish to acknowledge the Wathaurong 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.

 

The Cathedral Location Map

Latitude: 38° 17.417′ S   (38.290283° S / 38° 17′ 25.02″ S)
Longitude: 144° 38.572′ E   (144.642867° E / 144° 38′ 34.32″ E)

Datum: WGS84 | Google Map
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-04-06 21:08:28 GMT
Source: GPS
Nearest Neighbour: Sanctum Reef, 211 m, bearing 280°, W
Port Phillip.
Depth: 22 to 60 m.
Dive only on: SWF, SWE.



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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