The Popes Eye Anchor Farm is one of the more unusual dive sites in Victoria: an outdoor museum of ships' anchors laid on the sand 88 m north of the Popes Eye annulus. When the Port of Melbourne's Channel Deepening Project dredged the shipping channels in 2008–09, the survey and dredging work turned up a series of large historic anchors lost by nineteenth- and early twentieth-century vessels in the South and Port Melbourne channels. Rather than destroy or bury them, the anchors – about thirteen in all – were relocated to this spot in 9–11 m beside the marine reserve, with two plaques explaining them.

The Scuba Doctor listing names some of the individual pieces: the South Channel Anchor, a Rogers Patent type; South Channel Anchors 3 and 4; a Port Melbourne Channel Admiralty anchor of the classic stocked pattern; and a Port Melbourne Channel Trotman anchor, the pivoting-arm design of the 1850s. Each is several metres long and they now sit half-buried in sand, growing sponges and hydroids and sheltering leatherjackets, goatfish, octopus and the occasional blue devil. The seahorses and pipefish of the West Channel sand are found in the growth on the flukes. Seals and cuttlefish wander over from the annulus.

The centre mark covers seven of the anchors; the others must be found by searching, which turns the dive into a simple navigation exercise in shallow water. The one hard rule is tidal. The listing is blunt that the current here runs very fast because the water is shallow and there is no structure to hide behind, and that slack water is a must – a contrast with the annulus itself, which can be dived on a running tide. It suits Open Water divers, photographers who like industrial subjects, and anyone with an interest in the maritime history of the channels.

As for Popes Eye: 15 minutes from Portsea Pier or Queenscliff Harbour by charter, or from the Sorrento and Queenscliff ramps by private boat. The anchors lie on the sand just north of the annulus, and the site is either shot directly on the GPS above or reached by swimming north from the outside of the horseshoe. The listing notes that the centre mark covers seven of the anchors and the rest must be found by exploring; two information plaques mark the site.

Dive flag mandatory – the West Channel runs alongside – and no anchoring on the anchors.

It is dived only on slack water, either at the end of the flood (SWF) or the end of the ebb (SWE); most operators prefer the flood slack so that any residual current sets into the bay rather than out to sea. 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.

Inside the Heads it is sheltered from most swell, but a south-west swell over about 2 m still surges across the top of the wall and a westerly or south-westerly wind over 15–20 knots makes the boat work unpleasant; big seas outside drop visibility to a few metres for a day or two. Visibility is best in late summer and autumn (Feb–May) when the water is clear and the westerlies have eased; winter brings 11–13 °C water and bigger swells but often the clearest days after a run of settled weather. Heavy rain has little effect this close to the ocean.

Unlike the annulus itself, this open sand site has no shelter: the listing states 'the tide runs very fast at this dive site due to the shallow water. Diving on slack water is a must.' Tide reference: WillyWeather 'West Channel Annulus'.

Descend the shot at slack onto the central group of anchors at 10 m, read the two plaques, then work outward in a widening circle to locate the remaining anchors on the sand within about 50 m; return to the shot for the ascent or, if the tide has started, drift south to the shelter of the annulus and finish there.

Visited by the same boats as Popes Eye – Dive Victoria Group, Bayplay, Red Boats – usually as an extension of a Popes Eye dive or a dedicated slack-water dive; also a private-boat favourite.