The Waratah Bay is located in south

Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It cove ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. The bay is an arc of almost 20 kilometres of flat sandy beach framed by Cape Liptrap to the west and

Wilsons Promontory Wilsons Promontory, is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria. South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia. Located at nea ...

in the east.

Surrounding townships

Waratah Bay is approximately south east of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. The townships of Sandy Point, Waratah Bay and Walkerville are all located on the bay. Because of its proximity to Wilsons Promontory, a wide variety of sealife can be found in the rockpools along the shoreline. Some of these include sea urchins, crabs and octopuses.

Attractions

There are resorts around the coast. In recent years, humpbacks, southern right whales and others are increasingly visiting the bay areas as whale numbers increase and re-colonize into their former habitat of Waratah Bay. Especially the right whales will be a big feature in winter to spring seasons as areas adjacent to Melbourne was used to be historical wintering/calving grounds. Endemic

Burrunan dolphin The Burrunan dolphin (''Tursiops australis'') is a species of bottlenose dolphin found in parts of Victoria, Australia first described in 2011. Its exact taxonomy is debated: numerous studies support it as being a separate species within the genu ...

s and

common dolphin The common dolphin (''Delphinus delphis'') is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with a global population of about six million. Despite this fact and its vernacular name, the common dolphin is not thought of as the archetypal dolphin, wit ...

s that are resident in

Port Phillip Bay Port Phillip ( Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is compl ...

may swim close to shores as well.

References

Bays of Victoria (Australia) {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub