Apollo Marine Park is a place of cool, shallow waters, huge south-westerly swells, strong tidal flows and foraging seabirds. For sailors, it is one of the most notorious stretches of water in the world.

This marine park protects an area of continental shelf at the western entrance to Bass Strait.

During the last ice age, about 18,000 years ago, this area was part of an ancient lake and river system. One of the old river valleys is now a 100 metres deep undersea valley called the Otway Depression.

The marine park is south of Cape Otway and covers 1184 square kilometres.

It is a Multiple Use zone.

Explore

If venturing into Bass Strait is not your thing, you can still spot many of the birds that feed in the marine park without getting your feet wet.

Grab your binoculars and head to Cape Otway, the southern tip of Victoria’s western coast where it meets Bass Strait, and prepare for some spectacular bird watching.

Seabirds to look for include:

• Australasian gannets
• shy albatrosses
• black-browed albatrosses
• short-tailed shearwaters.

To help identify the birds, download the Seabird ID Guide from the Australian Fisheries Management Authority.

The guide is designed for commercial fishers, but is also handy for seabird watchers in southern Australia.

Discover

An historic shipwreck, MV City of Rayville, lies in the park near Cape Otway. It was the first American vessel sunk during World War Two.

You can find out more about historic shipwrecks around the Australian coast on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water website.