City of Geelong
Geelong is the largest provincial city (urban pop. 200,000) in Victoria, about 70km SW of Melbourne. The city spreads around the shores of Corio Bay with Torquay, Bells Beach and The Great Ocean Road to the southwest, and to the east are the Bellarine Peninsula, Queenscliff, and The Rip.
Google Map of Port Phillip and surrounds

Sub-Temperate zone
Victoria is in the sub-temperate zone of the southern hemisphere with sea temperatures ranging from 9c to 22c inside the bay and 12c to 18c in the nearby ocean. This means we dive on rocky reefs with kelp forests, sponge gardens and sandy plains. We can't boast about clear, calm, tropical warm water but we do have more diversity in our marine plants and animals. Many of them are endemic, which means they are not found anywhere else in the world.
Current wind directions and water temperature

The Rip
Most of our diving is done 30km to the east of Geelong in and around the entrance to Port Phillip, known locally as "The Rip". This 3km wide entrance can be wild and trecherous at times with ripping currents and breaking swells. Cutting right through the middle of The Rip is a deep trench (100m at the deepest point) which provides some spectacular wall diving with wildly coloured sponges and abundant critters. This trench is the ancient path of the Yarra river.
Most diving in this area is tide dependant. We either wait for the short slack water periods or drift with the current. Outside The Rip dives are less affected by the tide but more affected by the Southern Ocean swell.
Current Pt Lonsdale Lighthouse ripcam views via Victech
Panorama of The Rip area

Wrecks
The Rip is one of the most dangerous habour entries in the world. As a result there are many historical shipwrecks to explore. There is also the extensive ship's graveyard a few km outside the bay with hundreds of scuttled ships to dive, including some WW1 J-class submarines. Some wrecks, like the Eliza Ramsden (20m) and J4 sub (28m), are shallow enough for Advanced certified divers while most others are deeper than 40m and require higher levels of certification and equipment.
Most ships take on a seapilot just outside the heads to negotiate the narrow channel through The Rip and on to the busy ports of Melbourne and Geelong. Divers quickly become accustomed to the deep roar of the orange pilot boat's motors as it charges out to meet another big vessel. Dives within the shipping channel are dependant on the absence of ships for the duration of the dive and 1 hour either side.

Hopefully in 2008 the ex HMAS Canberra frigate will be sunk in this area as an artificial reef and dive site.

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