The Middle Brighton Baths are the last surviving enclosed sea baths on the eastern shore of Port Phillip. The original Corporation Baths of 1881 were destroyed in a storm in November 1934 and the present structure dates from 1936; today it houses a health club, restaurant and a swimming enclosure, and its piles, shark netting and the sheltered water around them make a controlled training site that Melbourne dive shops have used for decades. This is a beginner's dive and it does not pretend otherwise.

Depth is 1-3 m around the enclosure and only reaches about 6 m on the sand and weed toward the pier head. The piles and netting carry mussels, sea squirts, tubeworms and algae that shelter blennies, cardinalfish, small leatherjackets, sea stars and crabs, and the sand and seagrass between the baths and the pier are worth a slow search for seahorses, pipefish, flathead, fiddler rays and stingarees, and for octopus and squid at night. Because it is protected from northerlies by the marina breakwater and from easterlies by the land, it is almost always calm, which is the point: it is where you do a first open-water dive, a scuba refresher, a mask-clearing session or a first night dive without worrying about conditions.

The ramp entry means no ladders or rock scrambles, the pier car park and toilets are beside it and the precinct is lit at night. For experienced divers it is a five-minute hop from the pier and breakwater, and the two can easily be done as one long dive on a single tank if you are economical.

Follow the directions for Middle Brighton Pier: Beach Road or Nepean Highway to Brighton, then the Esplanade to the pier car park at Park Street (pay-and-display, enforced year-round). The baths are immediately south-east of the car park, opposite the Normanby Road intersection with the Esplanade. Gear up at the car, walk 50-80 m down the paved ramp and enter the water beside the baths enclosure.

The dive is done around the outside of the baths piles and netting and across the sheltered sand between the baths and the pier. Exit up the same ramp.

Sheltered from northerlies by the marina breakwater and diveable in easterlies, south-easterlies and north-westerlies; strong southerlies and south-westerlies bring chop and silt. Best just before high tide for depth and clarity. Visibility is typically 3-6 m, better in winter and reduced after rain.

No swell. Midweek or night dives avoid the parking crush.

Enter down the ramp, descend at 2 m and follow the outside of the baths piles clockwise, then head north-west across the sand and weed toward the pier head (5-6 m), turn at half gas, return along the same line and ascend in the shallows by the ramp.

No regular commercial operator – dived independently and by Melbourne dive clubs and shop social-dive programs (Scuba Culture, Aquability, Melbourne Diving Services run occasional shore-dive nights at bayside piers); Ricketts Point-based snorkel tours run separately. Frequently used by Melbourne dive shops for open-water training and try-dives.