Guichen Bay is Robe's sheltered harbour – the reason the town grew there in the 1840s – and the Marine Life Network describes it as a safe harbour with clear water, white sand and large seagrass meadows full of small marine life. It is the easy, protected option near Robe when the open coast at Cape Dombey is rough.

This is a shallow, gentle seagrass and sand dive rather than a reef dive. The meadows of Posidonia and Amphibolis are nurseries for juvenile fish, and patient divers and snorkellers find pipefish, small cuttlefish, hermit crabs, sea stars, flathead and stingarees on the sand edges, with rays and schools of mullet and salmon crossing the open areas. The jetty adds structure: pylons with sponges and algae, and squid attracted by the lights at night. Visibility is often good over the white sand, and the shallow depth gives long, warm (by local standards) dives in summer.

It is not a destination dive, and published diver information is scant, but it is useful: a checkout or refresher site, a snorkel for families, and a night-dive option in a town that otherwise depends on calm seas. Robe itself is a pleasant base with accommodation, restaurants and historic buildings, and the bay's lee means you can usually get wet here on a Limestone Coast trip when everything else is closed. It suits beginners, snorkellers and macro enthusiasts. Bring your own cylinders: the nearest fills are in Mount Gambier, 130 km away, so a Robe stay needs planning around air.

Robe is about 130 km north-west of Mount Gambier on the Southern Ports Highway. The town beaches of Guichen Bay run along the foreshore below Victoria Street and Royal Circus; park on the foreshore, gear up at the car and walk a short distance across the sand to the water, or enter from the Robe jetty. Small boats can launch from the Robe marina and anchor anywhere over the seagrass.

Choose a spot away from boat channels.

Guichen Bay faces north-west and is sheltered from the prevailing south-westerly swell, so it is often calm when the open coast is not; strong westerly to north-westerly winds make it choppy and cloud the sand. Visibility is best after several calm days. Summer afternoon sea breezes add chop, so mornings are better.

Negligible current. Seagrass wrack piles up on the beaches after storms.

Enter from the beach or jetty, fin slowly out over the seagrass edges at 2-5 m looking for pipefish, cuttlefish and rays, and follow a compass bearing back to your entry.

No regular operator – independent shore diving and snorkelling. Nearest air fills and hire: Dive Experience, Mount Gambier.