Point Lonsdale Jetty is a short timber pier on the bay side of Point Lonsdale, tucked under the lighthouse at the very western edge of the Port Phillip entrance – close enough to The Rip that the pilot boats work from beside it. The Scuba Doctor listing gives a depth range of 3–12 m, describes 'an interesting dive under the jetty itself' in 'shallow but dynamic waters' over a rocky bottom with abundant marine life, and notes that the reef patches to the north and east are worth heading for when the water is slack.

The piles carry the usual Victorian pier community – sponges, ascidians, anemones, hydroids and mussels – and the small animals that live in it: seahorses and pipefish in the growth, nudibranchs, decorator crabs, octopus in the rubble and leatherjackets and wrasse between the piles. What is unusual is the water: this is oceanic, current-swept and normally clear, so the pile growth is thicker and more colourful than on the bay piers to the north, and the reef patches beyond the jetty at 6–12 m are proper Heads limestone with ledges, kelp and crayfish. South of the jetty the Point Lonsdale Kelp Forest and Shark Gutter continue around the point.

The listing is direct about the difficulty: slack water with no swell, short dives only, and best for experienced divers. The tide runs past the piles at several knots on both the flood and the ebb, and a diver caught on the flood will be carried into the bay past the lighthouse. It is not a training pier. For an experienced macro photographer who can time the slack it is a productive and rarely dived site with car-park access, and it is the launching point for the shore dives on the outer platform – Black Boy, Gange, George Roper, Glaneuse and Holyhead – which the listing lists as advanced-only wrecks nearby.

Follow Point Lonsdale Road to the lighthouse car park (free parking, toilets by the lighthouse); the jetty is directly below, a 100 m walk down the path and along the foreshore. The Scuba Doctor listing recommends entering from the lower landing at the end of the jetty, with a shore entry from the beach beside it as the popular alternative; exit is back up the landing or onto the beach. Keep clear of the pilot vessels, which use the jetty area, and of anglers on the deck.

Nearest air fills Dive Victoria Group, Queenscliff (5 km). Melway 499 J6, beach marker 1B.

Slack water and no swell are the conditions: the listing says the jetty is 'best dived during slack water with no swell' and that 'short dives only, and best for experienced divers' because of the swift currents at the entrance – both the ebb and the flood run past the piles at several knots. Slack water at Port Phillip Heads does not coincide with high or low water: it falls roughly three hours after high or low water at Point Lonsdale, and the usable window is typically 20–40 minutes. Use the Ports Victoria / Port of Melbourne slack-water predictions for The Heads (also republished by charter operators and WillyWeather 'Rip Bank') rather than a standard tide table.

The bay side of the point is sheltered from southerlies but open to any westerly or north-westerly chop and to swell wrapping around the point; calm northerly days in late summer and autumn are best. Water 11–13 °C in winter, 17–19 °C in late summer; visibility usually good because the water is oceanic.

Enter off the lower landing at slack, drop to the bottom at 3–5 m under the jetty and work the piles for macro life, then head north and east to the reef patches at 6–12 m if the water is still; turn after 15–20 minutes and return under the jetty to the landing before the tide builds. Float and flag mandatory.

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.