🚤 The Rip

The Rip is the narrow waterway entrance connecting the Bass Strait to the Port Phillip Bay in southern Victoria, Australia, and is the only route of maritime transport and thus seaport access into Melbourne and Geelong, Victoria's two largest cities and homes to Australia's largest and sixth-largest ports. Geographically, it is a roughly triangular area of water between Point Nepean on the Mornington Peninsula, Shortlands Bluff and Point Lonsdale on the Bellarine Peninsula, with these three headlands forming the Heads. Because of the strong oceanic tides being funnelled into the bay through this relatively narrow channel, and a high rocky seabed, the Rip is a dangerous stretch of water and has claimed numerous ships and many lives in history.