South of Balcombe Point the Mount Martha shoreline changes from beach to a long run of low cliffs that continues for about 8 km to Martha Point and the Safety Beach marina. The Scuba Doctor lists five shore dives along this stretch, each named for the street whose creek gully gives access – Deakin Drive, Hearn Road, Stanley Crescent, Burdoo Way and Ian Road – and describes them all as 3–5 m shore dives with fairly easy track access. Deakin Drive is the northern-most and the closest to Mount Martha village and Balcombe Creek, which makes it the first choice for anyone coming from Mornington and the one most affected by creek run-off after rain.

What lies below is a shallow sandstone and basalt platform reef fringing the cliff foot: ledges and undercuts a metre or two high, boulder falls from the cliff, brown algae and Sargassum on the rock, seagrass on the sand between. The fish are those of any rocky shore in the eastern bay – magpie perch, old wives, zebrafish, leatherjackets, hulafish and bullseyes under the ledges – with decorator crabs, octopus and abalone in the crevices, rays and flathead on the sand and giant cuttlefish inshore in winter. The attraction is solitude and unexplored reef within an hour of Melbourne, at a depth that allows very long dives; the drawback is that there is nothing to aim for, no facilities and a genuine exposure to westerly weather.

These are sites for self-sufficient shore divers who enjoy poking along a coastline with a flag and a camera, and for local snorkellers. Nobody should drive far for them, but a diver already at Mount Martha on a still, high-tide morning with an easterly can have several kilometres of reef entirely to themselves.

From Mount Martha village follow the Esplanade south past Balcombe Point; Deakin Drive meets the Esplanade about 1.5 km on, where the road runs along the top of low cliffs. Park on Deakin Drive or the Esplanade (residential streets, no formal car park) and take the walking track down the creek gully to the shore – 100–200 m with a moderate climb back. Enter over the rock platform or small beach at the gully mouth at high tide and swim out to the reef in 3–5 m.

Exit at the same gully or, in calm weather, at Hearn Road 820 m south-west.

The Mount Martha cliff coast faces west-south-west and is fully exposed to westerly and south-westerly winds, which raise a shore break over the rock platforms and make the gully entries slippery and surgy; anything above 10 knots from the west quarter is a poor day. Dive on easterly or north-easterly winds, at or near high tide so that the inshore platforms are covered. There is no current.

Visibility is reduced for a day or two after rain when the gullies and Balcombe Creek run. Summer sea breezes arrive most afternoons, so mornings are the reliable window.

Enter at the gully mouth at high tide, descend as soon as there is 2 m of water and swim straight out to the 4–5 m reef edge, then follow the rock parallel to the cliffs with the shore on one side for a fixed time or gas fraction. Turn, return along the same line slightly shallower, and surface at the gully.

No regular operator – independent shore divers and snorkellers only.