Landing Bay, also called Dinghy Cove, is the small cove on the northern side of Lady Julia Percy Island that provides, in the Scuba Doctor's words, the only place with practical human access to the top of the island. It was where sealers, guano diggers and the occasional scientific party landed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and there are significant archaeological sites both on the slopes above and in the water, so the cove has heritage as well as natural interest. Underwater it shelves from 8–10 m at the mouth to a pebble beach, over a bottom that, being on the sheltered lee side, is siltier than elsewhere around the island. The reef edges along the cliff bases on either side carry the kelp, sponges and crayfish typical of the island, and the seals hauled out on the rocks around the cove use it constantly, so a diver in the shallows is rarely alone for long.

It is, by the island's standards, the easy dive – Open Water depth, an anchorage out of the south-west swell and a straightforward layout – and the site guide is honest that while it is easier to access because of the protection, it lacks the dramatic appeal of the exposed sides. That makes it the right first dive of a day at Deen Maar, a place to settle, meet the seals and check equipment before moving round to the walls, caves and giant rock pools of the southern side, or simply the dive that is possible when the swell is up. Landing on the beach is prohibited without a permit; the island is a Wildlife Reserve within the Deen Maar Indigenous Protected Area, and the seal approach regulations apply. Everything else about the visit – the long exposed crossing, the cold upwelled water, the white sharks that patrol the colony – is as for the island generally.

Boat only, as for the island: from the Griffiths Street ramp in Port Fairy run about 20 km west-south-west (40–60 minutes), or from the Yambuk river ramp 8–10 km, to the northern side of the island. Landing Bay is the obvious cove with the pebble beach and is the usual anchorage in southerly weather. Do not land – the island is a wildlife reserve and Indigenous Protected Area and access ashore requires a permit.

First Cave lies 476 m to the east along the northern cliffs.

Lady Julia Percy Island stands 8 km offshore in the open Southern Ocean and the crossing from Port Fairy or Yambuk is exposed in any weather; the island offers a lee on one side or the other but nowhere is calm in a swell over about 1.5 m. Plan for a south-west swell under 1–1.5 m and winds under 15 knots, choosing sites on the northern (Landing Bay) side in southerly weather and the southern side in northerlies. The Bonney Upwelling brings cold, nutrient-rich water from November to April, when visibility can drop and water temperatures fall to 13–14 °C even in summer; autumn generally gives the clearest water.

Great white sharks frequent the colony, particularly during the pupping season from November to January. Diveable perhaps 30–40 days a year for a boat based in Port Fairy. Landing Bay is the sheltered northern anchorage and the site most often diveable when the southern side is unworkable, but easterly and northerly weather puts swell into it.

Anchor in the cove in 8–10 m, descend and work the reef edges on either side of the bay toward the cliff bases, where the boulders and ledges hold more life than the silty centre, then drift back across the bay toward the pebble beach in the shallows where seals hauled out on the rocks will come in to play. Return to the anchor for a slow ascent; there is no need for a formal stop at this depth.

No regular charter. Port Fairy and Portland fishing charters take divers to the island by arrangement in settled weather; Warrnambool Diving and Melbourne clubs organise occasional trips; most dives are from private boats out of Port Fairy or the Yambuk (Eumeralla River) ramp.