Point Danger is the small, rocky headland that closes the southern end of Torquay's Front Beach and gives Cosy Corner its shelter. The sanctuary covers about 20 hectares of intertidal rock platform, subtidal sandstone reef and sand, and because it is only a hundred metres from a car park on the edge of a beach town it is the Surf Coast's local shore dive and snorkel. The reef runs out as a series of low ridges and sand-floored gutters, a metre or two deep on the platform edge and dropping to 6–8 m a couple of hundred metres off the point. The ridges carry a dense turf of brown algae with patches of common kelp and bull kelp on the surge-swept outer edge; the ledges beneath them shelter southern rock lobster, black-lip abalone, sea urchins and a rich cover of encrusting sponges and ascidians. Fish life is typical of the exposed Victorian coast: blue-throat and senator wrasse, sea sweep, zebrafish, magpie perch, herring cale, leatherjackets and, on the sand edges, weedy seadragons and smooth rays. Port Jackson sharks turn up in the gutters in winter and spring.

The site also holds the scattered remains of the American clipper Joseph H Scammell, which struck the reef here in May 1891 and is recorded separately. For most visitors the sanctuary is a relaxed, shallow dive of an hour or so, ideal for new divers, snorkellers and anyone with a camera and a macro lens. The catch is the swell: the same exposure that makes the point a surf break means it is only genuinely comfortable on the flat, northerly days that Torquay gets in late summer and autumn. On those days it is one of the easiest and most rewarding shore entries between Barwon Heads and Apollo Bay, and being a no-take sanctuary since 2002 the crayfish and abalone are noticeably larger and bolder than on adjacent reef.

From the Torquay town centre follow The Esplanade south for about 1.5 km to the Point Danger car park on the headland, or pull into the Cosy Corner car park just before it. Gear up at the car and walk 50–100 m across the grass and sand to the water. The easiest entry is from the sand at Cosy Corner on the sheltered eastern side, swimming out and around the point onto the reef; on very calm days you can enter directly from the rock platform below the point.

The Front Beach car parks are a longer walk. Fishermans Beach boat ramp is 2 km north for anyone using a small boat.

This is a surf coast headland facing south-west into Bass Strait. Swell above about 1 m breaks over the outer reef and drives surge through the gutters; the inner Cosy Corner lagoon stays workable a little longer. Best on a light north to north-east wind with swell under 0.8 m; southerly and westerly winds make it lumpy and murky.

Visibility is worst for two to three days after a blow and after rain from Spring Creek. Mid to high tide gives more water over the platform and easier entries; at low tide the reef top is exposed. Diveable on perhaps a third of days in summer, far fewer in winter.

Enter at Cosy Corner, snorkel out over the sand and drop onto the reef edge in 2–3 m. Follow the gutters south-west around the point, staying inside the outer reef where the surge breaks, to a maximum of 6–8 m. Explore the kelp-lined ledges for crays and abalone (look only – sanctuary), then turn at half gas and retrace the same gutters back to Cosy Corner.

Surface in the lee of the point and swim in over the sand.

No regular charter. Used by Geelong and Surf Coast dive shops and clubs for shallow training and snorkel days; Torquay surf schools run snorkel sessions at Cosy Corner in summer.