Port Phillip · Australia · Wall
Devil's Dropoff
A broken wall from 12 m to 30 m, cut with overhangs
Area photo: Kgbo · CC BY-SA 4.0
Devil's Dropoff is one of Melbourne's most popular sites on the Lonsdale Wall. The dive begins at a large drop-off running from around twelve metres to thirty, and the face below is broken into ledges, overhangs and swim-throughs rather than falling as one clean sheet. It takes its name from the southern blue devil fish seen along it.
Also known as Devil's Drop Off.
Where it is and how deep
38.2901° S, 144.6272° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
You drop onto the top of the wall at around twelve metres and follow the ground out to the edge. From there the face runs down to about thirty, and it is not a plain drop: ledges step out of it, overhangs cut back underneath, and swim-throughs pass through the rock, so most of the dive is spent moving in and out of structure rather than hanging in open water beside it.
Deep to shallow is the sensible order: take the base of the wall first and then work slowly back up the face, using the ledges as stages so the ascent comes in steps rather than one climb. Blue devil fish, which give the site its name, are seen all along it. Thirty metres puts the dive outside beginner territory, and like every dive on this wall it is run on slack water from a charter boat, with the boat back before the flow rebuilds.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good |
Season follows Port Phillip: The spider crab aggregation runs May–Jul; winter also brings the clearest water, while summer is warmest but greener.
Sources
- Devil's Dropoff — Scubago/SSI
More dive sites in Port Phillip
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Reef
A 10-22 m reef of overhangs and swim-throughs
Walls stepping down past 60 m, strewn with house-sized boulders
Pinnacle
A 200 m rock circled in one dive, 18 m sand to 12 m top
Ledges and swim-throughs in 6-9 m, straight off the car park
A 138 m guided missile frigate sunk at 30 m
Wall
The shallow 8 m top of the Lonsdale wall system
Wreck
A WWI submarine at 27 m, silt-free inside on the right day
Similar dives elsewhere
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Wall and bommies with fiddler rays and eagle rays, dived above or below 20 m
Blue-water swim-throughs at the lip of a 30 m drop
Thirty metres at the head, then 600, then 2,000