Coastline still on the slide
Judging by the many comments we are still receiving, it seems some changes in the Bay are happening more rapidly in the last year than observers have ever remembered.
Our Dive Industry friends say tides now behave differently – slackwater is often later than expected, and more quickly turns to ebb or flood. When dropping off divers, predicting where they would later pop up used to be easy - now not so, they say, with them often having drifted far from where it had been expected. They are also concerned that at Portsea, when roped to the low landing at the pier, their substantial boats regularly come off their bollards when unusually strong tidal surges – not ships wash – often come through. Regular swimmers at Sorrento and Portsea also report that current speed is faster and often much harder to swim against than before.
Low landing at Portsea now regularly underwater. Pretty hard to load and unload you passengers!
As for coastal erosion, observers are certain beaches including Rosebud, Blairgowrie, Mt. Martha have changed rapidly, but the most dramatic reports are from Portsea, where the once substantial beach is now much reduced. Numerous mature trees, once adjacent to the pier have now been removed by Council, having first slumped into the sea, and the few remaining trees are rapidly being undermined.
Once there were trees. Portsea beach December 2009
Steps to the beach from Portsea pub now end dramatically at a sometimes precarious drop onto the beach, and the surrounding foreshore is slumping towards the sea. If walking parallel to the beach through the foreshore, as owners of dingys kept in the foreshore often do, you could literally step into the void created by the collapsing sand below the pub.
Mind the last step, it's a doozy. Steps to Portsea pub in background
We hear things are similarly changed at Point Lonsdale and other parts of the Bellarine coast, and would love to receive some more images from our Bellarine side supporters. Please send your observations and images to contact@bluewedges.org
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