Cape Schanck Cray Reef lies north-west of the lighthouse, extending out from the cliffed coast below The National Golf Club into 6–20 m of Bass Strait. The Scuba Doctor lists it as a crayfishing reef with incredible ledges and overhangs and equally recommends it for exploring, fish-watching and photography, and it is the offshore counterpart of the Fingal Beach shore dive a kilometre to the east. The reef is a mix of limestone and the harder volcanic rock that forms the cape, producing solid ledges and long undercuts on a bottom of bedrock, rubble and sand, with kelp gardens on the tops and dense sponge, bryozoan and sea tulip growth beneath.

Southern rock lobsters occupy the overhangs; blue devils, Port Jackson sharks and draughtboard sharks shelter in the darker holes; weedy seadragons move along the kelp edge; and the water column carries schools of sweep, old wives and zebrafish with magpie perch, boarfish and bluethroat wrasse on the rock. Fur seals and dolphins pass frequently, and in winter humpback and southern right whales migrate along this coast. It is a genuinely remote dive for somewhere so close to Melbourne: there is no charter, no mooring and no shelter, and the boat passage from Flinders rounds Cape Schanck itself, where wind against tide builds a steep sea.

The reward is a reef that is rarely visited, full of lobsters and life, in clean water without the tidal complications of the Heads. It suits Advanced divers with their own capable boat, lobster hunters observing the regulations, and photographers prepared to wait for the right day. Cape Schanck West, the shore dive around Pulpit Rock, and the deeper pinnacle reefs off the cape are the natural companions for a settled-weather expedition.

Launch at Flinders boat ramp (beside Flinders Pier) and run west around Cape Schanck – about 15 km, 25–35 minutes in a fast boat, in open Bass Strait – or come the long way from Sorrento through The Rip and east along the back beaches. Anchor on the reef in 10–15 m and descend the line. No charters schedule it; private boats and clubs only, and only in settled weather.

Best dived with minimal swell and a gentle northerly, as the source says; the reef lies on the most exposed coast of the peninsula and any south-westerly swell over about 1.5 m makes both the passage around the cape and the anchorage dangerous. Current is slight. Visibility is generally good Bass Strait water.

Wind against the ebb around Cape Schanck raises a steep sea, so plan the passage with the tide.

Descend the anchor to the reef top, follow the ledge line at 12–18 m looking under overhangs for lobsters and blue devils, then work back across the shallower reef at 8–10 m to the anchor and ascend with a safety stop.

No regular operator – private boats and Peninsula dive clubs launching at Flinders; The Scuba Doctor (Rye) can advise on marks.