The Bay of Martyrs is the eastern end of the Bay of Islands Coastal Park, a 32 km strip of reserve that runs west from Peterborough toward Warrnambool along some of the least visited and most spectacular limestone coast in Victoria. The name records the killing of Kirrae Whurrong people by settlers in the 1840s, as does Massacre Bay within it. The bay is 2.5 km across and faces south-west, with red limestone bluffs about 10 m high, a 500 m beach at the eastern end backed by dunes, and numerous reefs and sea stacks scattered across the shallows. Beneath the surface the stacks continue as limestone pinnacles and walls rising from a floor of sand and low reef in 3–10 m, cut with gutters, small caves and overhangs. Kelp covers the tops and the shaded faces carry sponges, ascidians and bryozoans; crayfish and abalone are in the ledges, and the fish are the familiar western Victorian mix of wrasse, sweep, magpie perch, zebrafish and leatherjackets with rays on the sand. It is a shore dive with the character of a boat dive – you are swimming among stacks – and on a flat day it is beautiful.

It is also the most accessible of the Bay of Islands sites, with a car park on the highway and steps to the beach, and because the outer reefs filter the swell the inner water is generally calmer than the open coast. The Scuba Doctor lists it for both shore and boat diving; boats from the Bay of Islands ramp 2 km west reach the outer stacks in a few minutes. It is best treated as a high-tide, low-swell dive for Open Water divers with some surf experience, and as a snorkel for everyone else. Massacre Bay and Crofts Bay lie immediately west within the same system and offer similar diving with less access; the whole stretch is a place to explore over several days rather than a single site.

From Peterborough drive 2 km west on the Great Ocean Road to the signposted Bay of Martyrs car park on the seaward side (also the start of the Bay of Islands coastal walk). Gear up at the car and take the steps down the 10 m bluff to the 500 m beach at the eastern end of the bay – a short carry, but steep coming back. Enter from the sand and swim out to the reefs and stacks.

Boats launch at the Peterborough Bay of Islands (Boat Bay) ramp off Boat Bay Road or the Curdies River ramp at the end of Dorey Street in Peterborough; the river ramp requires crossing the Curdies Inlet bar, which is only possible at higher tides and in small swell. Massacre Bay and Crofts Bay are smaller bays within the same system to the west. Warrnambool is 48 km west.

The Bay of Martyrs faces south-west into the Southern Ocean and its outer reefs and stacks take heavy surf; inside them the water is calmer but still surges. The Scuba Doctor advises diving at high tide when the reefs are covered, on a low swell (under about 1 m) with northerly winds, and to look at the water before gearing up – if there is lots of white water, head home. Southerly and westerly winds and swell over 1.5 m close it out completely, and the beach has rips in bigger seas.

Visibility is best after settled northerly weather in autumn. Realistically diveable a few days a month in summer and autumn.

Enter from the eastern end of the beach near high tide, swim out to the nearest reef or stack in 3–5 m and work west along the inside of the reef line through the gutters and around the bases of the stacks to a maximum of about 10 m. Turn at half gas, return along the same line and exit onto the beach where you entered; do not drift west toward the unclimbable bluffs.

No operator – independent shore divers and snorkellers on calm days; occasional Warrnambool Diving trips.