Description

Also known as "The Prom", the Wilsons Promontory is a tourist magnet that attracts people from different parts of the globe. What this place offers the zealous voyagers is the spectacular views of a preserved paradise. Here, excursionists may easily enjoy a walk to the criss-cross bush tracks at the park or even go for a swim deep into the maritime wonders that surround this Victorian haven. Indeed, it offers a complete package of amazing finds. However, before the world came to know more about this hidden paradise, it was George Bass who first discovered "The Prom" in his 1798 voyage.

While the park of the Wilsons Promontory has always been the focus of most recreational activities, the real adventure only lies in what is hidden beneath the crystal waters of "The Prom".

The Reserve…:

Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park provides spectacular underwater scenery with granite cliffs plunging below the surface. Huge granite boulders and pinnacles rise from the sparkling white or yellow sand, topped by carpets of multi-coloured seaweed. The marine life is impressive, a remarkable variety of invertebrates, reef and pelagic fish, and numerous colonies of fur seals. Fish busily move in and around these forests, including the unusually named Bastard Trumpeter, Saddled Wrasse and Old Wife. These rocky reefs are covered in kelp in the shallows with spectacular sponge and soft coral gardens in deeper water, making it ideal for scuba diving and underwater photography.

Southern Right Whales are moving along the Wilsons Promontory coastline during their annual winter migration.

The cave…:

In deeper areas under ledges or in caves are fascinating sponge 'gardens'. These are dominated by huge sponges, sea-fans, bright orange, blue or grey lace coral colonies, coloured sea tulips and beds of long, slender sea whips. With this deeper water, kelp forest fish species give way to schools of pink Barber Perch and then Butterfly Perch. Boarfish forage amongst the deep crevices and giant octopuses venture out of the rocks at night. A variety of rays and sharks occupy the sandy areas.

….And The Wreck: Situated south east of Wilson's Prom lays the wreck of the SS Cambridge, a British steamer. Built in 1916 as the German ship Vogtland she was a steel hulled screw steamer, her overall length was 524 feet her beam 65 feet and her draught was 37 feet giving her a displacement weight of 10,846 tons. She was built during World War 1 and taken by Great Britain as a war prize. Owned by the Federal Steam Navigation Company in 1940. Bound from Melbourne to Sydney under the command of Captain Angell. She sank after hitting a mine off Wilson's Promontory, two and a half nautical miles offshore, 7 November 1940. Of the ship's company of fifty-eight, only one man was lost. HMAS Orara took the survivors from the boats and landed them at Welshpool. The German vessel Passat had laid the mine in October. Two days after the loss of the Cambridge, the Orara and the Durraween commenced minesweeping operations off Wilson's Promontory, and destroyed forty-three mines from Bass Strait. The wreck lies in 67metres.

The only limiting factor can be rough weather and access, as the most exciting dive sites are offshore and best reached by a fast boat.
WDR.