Ranked by recorded summer water temperature: the Top End, the Kimberley, the far northern reef and the Indian Ocean territories, where 30 °C water is normal and a 3 mm suit is for sun protection.
Updated daily from the directory. 25 sites listed.
1. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Banksia Point, Ricketts Point
Summer water: 18-21 °C · Quietest entry in the sanctuary; very shallow close-in reef for snorkelling, children and relaxed night dives.
2. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Blairgowrie Pier
Summer water: 18–21 °C · The best pier dive in Australia: seadragons, cuttlefish, frogfish, seahorses and the spider crab aggregation in May.
3. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
McGregor Rock, Quiet Corner
Summer water: 18-21 °C · The sheltered fallback corner of Ricketts Point; profuse fish life over shallow ledges when other bayside sites are blown out.
4. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Middle Reef, Ricketts Point
Summer water: 18-21 °C · Uncrowded shallow reef edge between the teahouse and the life saving club; simple night dive and a good intertidal-to-subtidal study site.
5. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Mornington Pier
Summer water: 18–21 °C · Deepest of the northern piers with a reef along Schnapper Point; cuttlefish, seahorses and squid; diveable when southerlies blow out everything else.
6. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Portsea Pier
Summer water: 18–21 °C · Port Phillip's oldest dive pier, with sea dragons and night-dive octopus.
7. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary
Summer water: 18-21 °C · 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. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Rye Pier
Summer water: 18–21 °C · 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.
9. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Table Rock, Ricketts Point
Summer water: 18-21 °C · 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.
10. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Tea House Bay, Ricketts Point
Summer water: 18-21 °C · The most sheltered and accessible water in the sanctuary, right in front of the teahouse; sand and seagrass critters plus reef edges.
11. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Tea House Reef, Ricketts Point
Summer water: 18-21 °C · 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.
12. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Triangle Reef, Ricketts Point
Summer water: 18-21 °C · 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.
13. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Dromana Pier
Summer water: 18–21 °C · 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.
14. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
PS Ozone
Summer water: 18-21 °C · 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.
15. Geelong & Bellarine · VIC
Queenscliff Pier
Summer water: 18-21 °C · Queenscliff's training pier with oceanic-flushed visibility and richly grown piles; the sheltered base for a Heads diving weekend.
16. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Sorrento Pier
Summer water: 18–21 °C · One of Melbourne's best night dives: colourful sponge-covered ferry pylons, weedy seadragons and antique bottles under an 1870 pier.
17. Mornington Peninsula · VIC
South Channel Fort
Summer water: 18–21 °C · Granite caves and tunnels around an 1880s fort island, with seals, cuttlefish and blue devils in the middle of Port Phillip.
18. Geelong & Bellarine · VIC
Sponge Garden Drift, Queenscliff
Summer water: 18-21 °C · A sheltered ebb-tide drift over massive, brilliantly coloured sponge gardens inside Port Phillip Heads; the gentlest of the Heads drift dives.
19. Geelong & Bellarine · VIC
St Leonards Pier
Summer water: 18-21 °C · 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.
20. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Altona Pier
Summer water: 18-21 °C · Free-parking western-suburbs training pier with a small artificial reef off its end; flat, easy and sheltered from northerlies.
21. Geelong & Bellarine · VIC
Beach 10B, Queenscliff
Summer water: 18-21 °C · Ledges, overhangs and swim-throughs at 8-9 m (Friendly Bommie) reachable from a Queenscliff beach, with Heads-quality growth and seadragons; slack-water flood only.
22. Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Black Rock Jetty, Half Moon Bay
Summer water: 18-21 °C · Sheltered bayside jetty beside the Cerberus hulk; one of Melbourne's favourite spring night dives for bioluminescence.
23. Geelong & Bellarine · VIC
Clifton Springs Piers
Summer water: 18-21 °C · Ruins of a Victorian spa resort's piers in shallow, sheltered water full of seahorses and nudibranchs; historic bottles and a good night dive.
24. Geelong & Bellarine · VIC
Clifton Springs Steamship Pier
Summer water: 18-21 °C · Heritage-listed remains of an 1890 steamer pier with rails and fittings on a shallow seagrass bottom; seahorses and a quiet night dive.
25. Geelong & Bellarine · VIC
Cunningham Pier
Summer water: 18-21 °C · Geelong's deepest pier dive under a 1850s wool pier, sheltered from south and west winds; a study in native versus introduced marine life.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the warmest diving in Australia?
Darwin Harbour and the Top End reach 29–32 °C in the wet season, with the Kimberley, Torres Strait, Christmas Island and Cocos close behind at 27–30 °C.
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