Point Lonsdale Back Beach is the surf beach west of the lighthouse, and the reef off it is the only ocean-beach dive at the Heads that does not involve the rock platform. The Scuba Doctor listing gives 1–10 m, rates it Advanced Open Water and beyond, and is emphatic that it is for 'experienced divers and snorkellers only': the beach is patrolled by the Point Lonsdale Surf Life Saving Club precisely because 'strong permanent rips decorate the beach' – one of them nicknamed The Escalator – and the club records an average of 30 rescues a year.

The reef is a series of limestone ledges running parallel to the shore beyond the shorebreak, exposed at low tide and covered at mid to high water, which is when the site is dived. On the ledges and in the gutters between them the fauna is the same as the outer Lonsdale Reef a kilometre east – crayfish, abalone, wrasse, sweep, morwong, seadragons on the sand, zoanthids and sponges on the undersides – but with more sand movement and less current, since the beach is west of the Rip's direct influence. Glaneuse Reef and the wreck of the French barque Glaneuse lie 400 m to the south-east along the same shore.

The listing's conditions are specific: no wind or a few days of northerlies, low swell, mid to high tide. On such a day it is an accessible, cheap ocean dive with the surf club's facilities behind it; on any other day the rips and shorebreak make it dangerous, and a diver who is not comfortable in surf should choose the sheltered bay side of the point instead. It is dived by local club divers and snorkellers rather than by anyone from further afield.

From Point Lonsdale village drive west along Ocean Road; the entry is from the beach at marker 3W in front of the surf lifesaving club rescue base, between Laker Drive and Buckley Road, with parking along Ocean Road and at the club. Walk down the beach access track (50–100 m) and enter through the shorebreak at mid to high tide when the reefs are covered; exit back onto the beach, well away from the rip channels. Air fills Dive Victoria Group, Queenscliff (7 km).

Melway 499 J7.

An open Bass Strait surf beach: the listing says conditions are 'usually best with no wind or after a few days of northerlies', with 'light northerly winds, a low swell at mid to high tide' the recommendation, and notes that the reefs are exposed at low tide. Any southerly or westerly swell above about 1 m closes it. The tide window is the opposite of the platform sites – mid to high water so the reef is covered – but the beach has 'strong permanent rips', including one known as The Escalator, and the lifesaving club averages 30 rescues a year with a history of drownings; visibility 3–10 m and best in autumn.

Enter through the shorebreak at mid to high water on a flat day, swim out beyond the break to the reef at 5–10 m, work along the ledges parallel to the beach and return well up-beach of any rip channel; keep the surf club in sight and abort if the swell builds. Float and flag.

No commercial operator runs these shore dives; Dive Victoria Group (Queenscliff) can advise on conditions and occasionally guides the platform for experienced groups. Dived independently by Bellarine and Geelong club divers on the rare calm ebb slacks.