Governor Reef is a natural sandstone shoal lying about a kilometre off the Bellarine coast midway between Indented Head and St Leonards, marked by warning poles and better known to anglers, who fish it for King George whiting and squid, than to divers. The Scuba Doctor lists it as a shallow reef of 1-4 m, suitable for snorkelling from boats and for adventurous shore dives, and notes that the southern side has a prominent drop-off while the northern side lacks features and most of the action is on the shallow top. That is a fair summary.

The shoal rises from sand in 4 m to within a metre of the surface, its crest covered in mixed brown algae and seagrass and its southern edge falling away in a short but definite step with undercuts along its base. The top is squid country: southern calamari lay their egg clusters in the weed in spring and hunt over it at dusk, and the whiting that draw the fishing fleet are visible over the sand at the edges. The drop-off holds leatherjackets, wrasse, zebrafish, blennies and juvenile snapper, sea stars, urchins and nudibranchs on the rock and octopus in the undercuts, and rays and flathead lie on the surrounding sand.

It is a small site that a snorkeller can cover in half an hour and a diver in a slow lap, shallow enough for children on a calm day and sheltered in the southerlies that blow out the ocean coast. The cautions are all about boats: it is a popular anchorage, the shoal is a hazard to navigation (hence the poles), and anyone swimming out from shore is crossing a kilometre of open water used by fishing traffic. A boat and a flag make it an easy, pleasant dive.

Launch at the St Leonards or Indented Head boat ramps and run 1-2 km north-east or east to the poles marking the reef, a trip of 5-10 minutes. Anchor on sand beside the shoal, not on it, and fly a flag; the reef is a busy fishing spot. Experienced, fit divers occasionally reach it as a long surface swim from the shore south of the Pipelines, but it is a kilometre out and boat traffic is heavy, so a boat is the sensible option.

Heed the warnings on the poles.

Open water off a north-east-facing coast: sheltered in southerlies and south-westerlies, exposed to any northerly or north-easterly, which quickly raises chop over the shallow reef top. Best at high tide, when there is enough water over the crest to swim across it. Visibility 3-6 m, better in winter and after dry weather.

No swell. Fishing boats anchor here in numbers on calm weekends, so choose a quiet time and fly a flag.

Anchor on the southern side, descend to the sand at 4 m and follow the southern drop-off along the reef edge, cross the shallow top to look at the weed and squid egg clusters in season, and return along the drop-off to the anchor. Ignore the featureless northern side. Turn at half gas.

No regular operator – private boats and club RIBs; snorkelled from boats by locals.