Picnic Bay is the beach between Squeaky Beach and Whisky Bay on the Prom's northern beaches road, a 500 m curve of sand with the granite of Leonard Point at its southern end, and Parks Victoria's park note names its southern flank as one of the Prom's shore-based snorkelling spots. Scuba Doctor lists it at 1–6 m for Open Water divers: boulder formations slope to a sandy bottom at 6 m about 150 m offshore, and the site is suitable for snorkelling and scuba diving. It is the shallowest and most sheltered of the northern-beach dives, because Leonard Point takes the edge off the south-westerly swell that hits Whisky Bay squarely, and it is the one to choose with children, new divers or a marginal forecast.

The boulders under the point are the familiar Prom granite with kelp and algae on top and shaded ledges beneath, and the life is the shallow-reef community – wrasse, leatherjackets, zebrafish, old wives, magpie perch, sweep, juvenile morwong, with stingarees, flathead and whiting on the sand, abalone, crabs and small crayfish in the crevices (protected), anemones and sponges in the hollows and, along the kelp edge, the chance of a weedy seadragon. Depth never exceeds 6 m, so bottom times are long and light is excellent for photography. The 320 m track from a car park with toilets is one of the easiest approaches on the Prom.

Picnic Bay South is not a dramatic dive but it is a reliable, safe and pretty one in some of the clearest inshore water in the state, and it fits naturally with Whisky Bay 700 m north for a two-dive shore day from Tidal River.

Turn off Wilsons Promontory Road (C444) into Picnic Bay Carpark Road about 4 km before Tidal River; the car park at the end has public toilets. Follow the track approximately 320 m to the beach (5–8 minutes with gear) and walk to the southern end under Leonard Point. Enter off the sand and swim out along the boulders, which slope to sand at 6 m about 150 m offshore.

Exit onto the same beach.

Faces west but is sheltered towards its southern end by Leonard Point, so it holds up in a light south-westerly better than Whisky Bay; best dived with a light offshore easterly wind and calm seas with no swell (Picnic Bay tide predictions). Surf in any real westerly swell. Summer and autumn.

Enter at the southern end of the beach, follow the boulders under Leonard Point seaward with the rock on your left to the sand at 6 m about 150 m out, then return along the same boulders at 2–4 m. A relaxed circuit of 40–60 minutes; snorkellers can cover the same ground from the surface.

No operator. Shore dives and snorkels done by campers at Tidal River and by clubs (Dive La Trobe, VSAG, Melbourne University Underwater Club) on Prom camping trips; No air fills at Tidal River or Port Welshpool; the nearest compressor is roughly 100 km away (Melbourne's south-east or Inverloch/Leongatha area by arrangement) – bring all cylinders or a portable compressor