BEST WEST OF THE

Often overshadowed by its larger neighbour, Port Phillip, Western Port’s size, ecological diversity and marine facilities should command our attention as a worthy boating destination in its own right. This large, irregularly shaped coastal inlet, 75km south-east of Melbourne, is bounded by Mornington Peninsula to the west, Koo Wee Rup lowlands to the north, and the Anderson Peninsula extending to Phillip Island in the southeast. At high tide the bay’s waters cover 680 square kilometres, and drain at low tide to expose 270 square kilometres of intertidal mudflats and seagrass beds, mostly in the northern reaches.

Although regarded as a bay, it is technically an inlet because it is connected to Bass Strait by two channels — the wide Western Entrance between West Head at Flinders and Point Grant on Phillip Island, and the Eastern Entrance through ‘The Narrows’ between San Remo and the east end of Phillip Island. Its shallow waters are circulated in a generally clockwise direction by a large tidal range of between 2–3m, creating a strong current (up to 6 knots) in The Narrows on an outgoing tide. Western Port contains two large islands — French (170km²) and Phillip (100km²) — and several small ones, including Churchill Island (57ha).

FRENCH ISLAND

At 170km², French Island is the largest coastal island of Victoria. Its 120 permanent residents are concentrated in two settlements (Tankerton and Fairhaven) on the western side of the island, and make their living from