Barwon Bluff North is the river-facing side of the Bluff, the half of the Barwon Bluff Marine Sanctuary that is built of basalt and washed by the outflow of the Barwon River. It is entered from the rock shelf below the larger of the two Bluff Road car parks and dived east toward the river mouth and out to the tip of Point Flinders, where two pincers of reef enclose a small bay with a floor of sand and rock in 6-9 m. That bay is the destination: sheltered from the worst of the swell, ringed by ledges and kelp, it concentrates the fish.

The Scuba Doctor lists Western blue groper (the sanctuary is one of the few places near Melbourne where these big wrasse can be relied on), horseshoe and six-spined leatherjackets, magpie perch, boarfish, herring cale, zebrafish, Port Jackson sharks resting under the ledges, smooth stingrays and giant rays on the sand, and a dense invertebrate cover of sea slugs, feather stars, sea tulips and sponges under the crayweed, bull kelp and giant kelp that forest the reef. The basalt on this side is blockier and less sculpted than the sandstone of the southern side, but the kelp is as thick and the shelter is better; in a south-westerly swell this is the side to dive, though it is also the first to go brown when the river is running after rain. About 700 m offshore lie the remains of the SS Orungal, the coastal steamer wrecked on Formby Reef in 1940, which is a separate boat dive.

The entry over the shelf demands attention to the swell, and the Scuba Doctor's advice to walk over the crest and look at the sea before gearing up should be taken literally. For divers who have done the bay piers and want their first taste of Victoria's ocean coast with kelp, groper and rays, this is the accessible option, twenty-five minutes from Geelong.

Drive up Bluff Road from Barwon Heads village to the second, larger car park on the headland (beach marker 27W). Gear up and walk down the ramp to the beach, a carry of about 150 m, then walk out onto the rock shelf and as far east as you want to go before entering the water from the edge of the shelf. Before gearing up do the short walk over the crest and look at the sea.

Exit back onto the shelf at the same point. Toilets are at the Bluff car park.

A Bass Strait shore dive: diveable only with little or no swell (under about 1 m at the Bluff) and light winds, ideally northerly to north-easterly; any south-westerly swell or southerly wind breaks over the rock shelf and makes the entry dangerous and the water surgy and murky. Autumn and early winter give the most flat days. Avoid the eastern (river) side after rain, when the Barwon River discharges brown water and visibility collapses; the western side clears sooner.

Check the sea from the lookout on the Bluff before gearing up; if there is white water on the shelf, do not dive. Dive around high tide for depth over the shelf, but be aware that high tides cut off the beach below the cliffs. The northern side is the more sheltered of the two in a south-westerly swell but is the first to lose visibility when the river runs brown.

Enter from the shelf edge, descend to 3-4 m and follow the basalt reef east and seaward toward the tip of Point Flinders, drop into the small sand-and-rock bay between the reef pincers at 6-9 m, explore the kelp beds and ledges around it, turn at half gas and return along the reef to the shelf, ascending in its lee.

No regular commercial operator – dived independently and by Geelong and Melbourne clubs; Bay City Scuba (Geelong) and Dive Victoria Group (Queenscliff) are the nearest shops.