Sites where a certified diver, a snorkeller and a nervous first-timer can all get in at the same beach: shallow, sheltered, easy entry, plenty to see in the top five metres, and usually a car park, toilets and a café nearby.
Updated daily from the directory. 30 sites listed.
1. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Blairgowrie Pier
The best pier dive in Australia: seadragons, cuttlefish, frogfish, seahorses and the spider crab aggregation in May.
2. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Rye Pier
Seahorses on nearly every pylon, the annual giant spider crab aggregation, big stingrays and superb night diving – all in 7 m from a car park.
3. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Banksia Point, Ricketts Point
Quietest entry in the sanctuary; very shallow close-in reef for snorkelling, children and relaxed night dives.
4. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Flinders Pier
Weedy seadragons almost guaranteed in 5 m of water on Western Port.
5. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
McGregor Rock, Quiet Corner
The sheltered fallback corner of Ricketts Point; profuse fish life over shallow ledges when other bayside sites are blown out.
6. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Middle Reef, Ricketts Point
Uncrowded shallow reef edge between the teahouse and the life saving club; simple night dive and a good intertidal-to-subtidal study site.
7. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary
Melbourne's flagship marine sanctuary: eight shallow reef entries, tame fish, sea caves and seagrass twenty minutes from the CBD, perfect for beginners, snorkellers and night dives.
8. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Table Rock, Ricketts Point
The sanctuary's best terrain: undercut ledges and a cave-like hollow under a sandstone headland, with bigger fish and rays; a favourite Melbourne night dive.
9. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Tea House Bay, Ricketts Point
The most sheltered and accessible water in the sanctuary, right in front of the teahouse; sand and seagrass critters plus reef edges.
10. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Tea House Reef, Ricketts Point
The central reef of the sanctuary with navigable channels, dense tame fish and the best facilities of any bayside shore dive; the standard Melbourne night and training site.
11. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Triangle Reef, Ricketts Point
Deepest reef in the sanctuary (to 8 m) off a proper beach with showers; the sanctuary's main scuba training site and a fine night dive.
12. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Portsea Pier
Port Phillip's oldest dive pier, with sea dragons and night-dive octopus.
13. Geelong & Bellarine · VIC
St Leonards Pier
The Bellarine's best pier: 4-6 m of sheltered, weedy water with seahorses, stargazers and cuttlefish, an 1850s wreck's ribs, and superb night diving.
14. Shipwreck Coast & Warrnambool · VIC
Warrnambool Breakwater Inside
Warrnambool's sheltered training and night dive: seahorses, leatherjackets and cuttlefish along the kelp-covered breakwater wall, with reef and swim-throughs off the end.
15. Geelong & Bellarine · VIC
Queenscliff Pier
Queenscliff's training pier with oceanic-flushed visibility and richly grown piles; the sheltered base for a Heads diving weekend.
16. Shipwreck Coast & Warrnambool · VIC
Stingray Bay
The best shore dive in Warrnambool: a kelp forest full of cuttlefish, crayfish and seahorses with stingrays on the sand, in a no-take sanctuary below the car park.
17. Surf Coast & Great Ocean Road · VIC
Marengo Reefs Marine Sanctuary
A fur seal haul-out on a kelp-covered sanctuary reef within a short swim of the beach – the Great Ocean Road's signature snorkel and an easy shallow dive.
18. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Dromana Pier
Ultra-shallow training and night dive with the pylons and rail wheels of the old jetty 200 m out; sheltered from southerlies by Arthurs Seat.
19. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
PS Ozone
The 1886 'Greyhound of Port Phillip' scuttled as a breakwater – paddle wheel above water, boilers and steering gear in 3 m, with the hulk Dominion alongside; ideal snorkel and training wreck.
20. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Sea Scouts Jetty, Beaumaris Bay
Easiest walk-in entry near Ricketts Point via a concrete ramp, leading to a boulder field under towering sandstone cliffs with lively ledges.
21. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Jawbone Marine Sanctuary
Urban sanctuary with lava-flow boulders, seagrass, saltmarsh and small kelp in one shallow dive; the western suburbs' best snorkel.
22. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Middle Brighton Pier
Melbourne's standard training and night-dive pier with a sheltered breakwater full of critters and good facilities.
23. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Sandringham Pier Breakwater
Breakwater built partly from old ship hulks, with the J7 submarine wreck 150 m away; sheltered, fishy and good at night.
24. Bass Coast · VIC
Cape Paterson (Bay Beach)
A kelp-fringed bay behind a natural rock break at Cape Paterson – the Gippsland ocean coast's most sheltered shore dive, diveable even in southerly weather.
25. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
The Jawbone, Williamstown
Basalt boulder reef inside an urban marine sanctuary where abalone and sharks are returning; sheltered but requires a long carry.
26. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Point Gellibrand
Basalt lava ledges at the tip of Williamstown with excellent nudibranch macro; free parking and a heritage-park setting.
27. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Rosebud Pier
Uncrowded pier with rich seagrass nursery; seahorses and rays without the Rye crowds.
28. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Seaford Pier
Easy, very shallow seagrass pier dive beside Seaford station; garfish schools in the weed and simple night diving.
29. Bass Coast · VIC
The Caves (Bunurong)
A large natural rock pool in the intertidal platform, diveable at low tide and opening onto the Bunurong reef; a sheltered aquarium for snorkellers and a novel entry for divers.
30. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Frankston Pier
Closest pier dive to Melbourne; seahorses and globefish on the pylons; easy training and night dive with facilities on the beach.
Frequently asked questions
Where can non-divers join in?
Any site marked snorkel-friendly. Cabbage Tree Bay at Manly, Port Noarlunga, the Mornington piers, Tangalooma, Lady Elliot's lagoon and Tinderbox are among the easiest.
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