Warrnambool Breakwater Inside

Shore Dive | Shore access

Warrnambool Breakwater Inside
© Warrnambool City Council

Depth: 3 m (9.84 ft) to 9 m (30 ft)

Level: Open Water and beyond.

The Warrnambool Breakwater Inside dive site is the northern side of the Warrnambool Breakwater Rock Pier (aka Warrnambool Pier) at the western most point of Lady Bay, Warrnambool on Victoria's Shipwreck Coast. The breakwater protects the dive site from the swell of the Southern Ocean and southerly winds. The concrete structure has kelp growing out from it providing shelter for many marine creatures.

Diving and Snorkelling at Warrnambool Breakwater Inside

Warrnambool Breakwater Rock Pier
© Sally Watson

This a relatively easy and safe site for diving and snorkelling which offers lots of small invertebrate life as well as Seahorses, several varieties of Leatherjacket, Sea Stars, Boxfish, Sweep, Wrasse, Gobies and Blennies on the breakwater itself. Stingrays, Flathead and Flounder can be seen out on the sands, while Pipefish and Goatfish are amoungst the seagrass.

Visibility can be really good or bad depending on the surge. Outside the Breakwater wall, is reef, which offers swim throughs, kelp forest, lots of fish and crayfish.

Warrnambool Breakwater Parking
© Google Street View

Location: Viaduct Road, Lady Bay, Warrnambool, Victoria 3280

Parking: There is a large car parking area nearby off Viaduct Road, and at the beginning of the breakwater. Before gearing up check out the water. If you see lots of white water, head on home.

Safety First: The breakwater is just 40 metres south of the Warrnambool Lady Bay Boat Ramp so make sure you tow a dive float with a dive flag for safety. Surge can be quite strong here, so please monitor conditions before entry.

Entry/Exit: Most divers and snorkellers enter and exit via the shore between the breakwater and the boat ramp. Some prefer to use the boat landing on the breakwater. Be very careful of boat traffic as you head out.

Ideal Conditions: Conditions must be calm to dive here. See WillyWeather (Warrnambool Pier) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

Warrnambool Breakwater History

The Port of Warrnambool was a thriving deep sea port in the 1880s, handling more cargo than the Port of Melbourne. Construction of a breakwater to protect the harbour commenced in 1876. Huge concrete blocks, each weighing 32 tonnes, were transported to the breakwater site by a specially-built broad gauge railway line. The 315 metre long Breakwater Pier and its railway line were designed by eminent British harbour engineer Sir John Coode. When completed in 1890, it was one of Victoria's most substantial structures.

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.

Warrnambool Breakwater Inside Location Map

Latitude: 38° 24.143′ S (38.402384° S / 38° 24′ 8.58″ S)
Longitude: 142° 28.565′ E (142.476082° E / 142° 28′ 33.9″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map | Get directions
Added: 2021-06-08 19:08:07 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-24 05:52:35 GMT
Source: Google Earth
Nearest Neighbour: Old Aquarium, 151 m, bearing 190°, S
Lady Bay, Shipwreck Coast.
Depth: 3 to 9 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.