The Pipelines at Indented Head are the water intakes for the Great Southern Waters land-based abalone farm on the Bellarine's Port Phillip shore, a pair of large pipes that leave the beach and run some 500 m out across the shallow sand to a yellow buoy. They were never meant to be a dive site, but like any long hard object laid on a sandy bottom they have become one. The pipes sit on and slightly above the sand in 1-4 m, and after years underwater their tops are dominated by kelp and other brown algae and thick with filter-feeding ascidians, while the shaded undersides carry nice sponge growth in reds, oranges and yellows that would not otherwise exist on this shore.

Fish gather along them as they would along a reef edge: leatherjackets, wrasse, blennies, cardinalfish and juvenile snapper, with rays frequenting the area in numbers (smooth stingrays, fiddler rays and stingarees on the sand beside the pipes are the site's signature), seahorses and pipefish in the weed on the pipes and octopus wherever there is a gap between pipe and sand. It is a linear dive of the simplest kind, out along the pipes and back, which makes it an excellent night dive and a good site for new divers and snorkellers, provided the northerly-facing exposure is respected. Depth never exceeds 4 m even near the buoy, so the whole dive is long and shallow.

Governor Reef, a natural shoal 1 km south-east, and Andersen Reserve at Point George 2 km north are the neighbouring sites, and St Leonards Pier is 4 km south.

Indented Head is 8 km south-east of Portarlington on The Esplanade (C125); the abalone farm is at the northern end of the township. Park on The Esplanade near the farm (roadside, free) and walk down to the beach where the pipes come ashore, a carry of 50-100 m. Enter from the sand and follow the pipes seaward; they run about 500 m out to a yellow buoy, so plan to turn well before that.

Exit back at the same beach. St Leonards Pier is 4 km south for a second dive.

This coast faces north-east, so it is sheltered in southerlies and south-westerlies and exposed to northerlies and north-easterlies, which bring chop and lift the sand. Dive at high tide for depth. Visibility 3-6 m, better in winter, reduced after rain.

No swell. Boats pass close inshore and use the pipelines as a fishing mark, so take a flag buoy.

Enter at the beach, find the pipes in the shallows and follow them seaward at 2-4 m, examining the sponge growth beneath and the kelp on top, turn at half gas or when the pipes reach 4 m, and return along the pipes to the beach; they are an unmissable navigation line.

No regular commercial operator – dived independently and by Geelong and Melbourne dive clubs; Bay City Scuba (East Geelong) and Dive Victoria Group (Queenscliff) are the nearest shops and use the Bellarine piers for training and night dives.