Staying Home Sucks, home
Out for a walk - panoramio
Portsea, the nearest town, 2 km away. Photo: Stephen Edmonds, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Portsea Pier East Reef

Dive site · Australia

Open Water divers and up

Scored for Advanced divers

Is it worth the trip?

61Good out of 100 for your dates

Home sucks

Best on Wed 4: Sea 0.4 m, Visibility about 5 m, Water 16 °C

Each day of your trip, out of 100

Mon 2 · 63 out of 100

Sea
0.5 m
Wind
4 kn
Gusts
7kn
Air
16°C

Tue 3 · 62 out of 100

Sea
0.6 m
Wind
10 kn
Gusts
14kn
Air
14°C

Wed 4 · 64 out of 100

Sea
0.4 m
Wind
5 kn
Gusts
8kn
Air
17°C

Thu 5 · 62 out of 100

Sea
0.7 m
Wind
9 kn
Gusts
14kn
Air
14°C

Fri 6 · 58 out of 100

Sea
0.8 m
Wind
13 kn
Gusts
20kn
Air
18°C

Sat 7 · 45 out of 100

Sea
1.1 m
Wind
20 kn
Gusts
27kn
Air
12°C

Sun 8 · 61 out of 100

Sea
0.8 m
Wind
10 kn
Gusts
15kn
Air
12°C

Tap a day for sea, wind and water. Full forecast

Forecast: next 10 days

Full forecast
  1. Sun 168, good
  2. Mon 263, good
  3. Tue 362, good
  4. Wed 464, good
  5. Thu 562, good
  6. Fri 658, fair
  7. Sat 745, fair
  8. Sun 861, good
  9. Mon 964, good
  10. Tue 1062, good

The site in three facts

  • Open Waterand up
  • Water 16 °C7 mm wetsuit and hood
  • Faces NEswell from there reaches it

Full forecast

every day, every number

The score doesn't know currents, the visibility on the day or your certification.

Suits Open Water divers and up, as a dive guide states it. Scored for Advanced divers.

Sea and wind forecast and score for each day at Portsea Pier East Reef
DayScoreSeaWindGustsAir
Sun 1Nov68, good0.4 m3 kn9kn16°C
Mon 2Nov63, good0.5 m4 kn7kn16°C
Tue 3Nov62, good0.6 m10 kn14kn14°C
Wed 4Nov64, good0.4 m5 kn8kn17°C
Thu 5Nov62, good0.7 m9 kn14kn14°C
Fri 6Nov58, fair0.8 m13 kn20kn18°C
Sat 7Nov45, fair1.1 m20 kn27kn12°C
Sun 8Nov61, good0.8 m10 kn15kn12°C
Mon 9Nov64, good0.5 m6 kn12kn17°C
Tue 10Nov62, good0.3 m12 kn16kn19°C

Sea is the waves near the site, in metres; wind and gusts in knots. "Boats in": gusts that keep dive boats in. More

Tide

  • Sun 1 NovHigh 04:47 +1.3 mLow 10:29 −0.7 mHigh 16:29 +0.9 mLow 22:33 −1.3 m
  • Mon 2 NovHigh 05:30 +1.2 mLow 11:14 −0.7 mHigh 17:19 +0.8 mLow 23:20 −1.2 m
  • Tue 3 NovHigh 06:17 +1.1 mLow 12:01 −0.7 mHigh 18:16 +0.7 m

Local clock times; heights about mean sea level. On open coasts the times are usually within a quarter of an hour; in bays, estuaries and on the Gulf of Mexico they can be an hour or more out. Slack water, the safest time to dive where there is current, is about half an hour either side of each high and low. Tide: EOT20 global ocean tide model, Hart-Davis et al. 2021, DGFI-TUM (doi:10.17882/79489), CC BY 4.0. Times and heights computed by us. A model, not a tide table: check a local table before you go.

Forecast updated . It refreshes every three hours. Forecast data: ECMWF, DWD, Météo-France and NOAA, served by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0). Changed by us. Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information.

Best time to go

No month stands out

Good diving days in a typical week, each month, for Advanced divers, from 2016 on (ERA5 history scored the same way).

  1. Jan7of 7: a trip from Sat 2 Jan
  2. Feb7of 7: a trip from Sat 6 Feb
  3. Mar7of 7: a trip from Sat 6 Mar
  4. Apr7of 7: a trip from Sat 3 Apr
  5. May7of 7: a trip from Sat 1 May
  6. Jun7of 7: a trip from Sat 5 Jun
  7. Jul7of 7: a trip from Sat 3 Jul
  8. Aug6of 7: a trip from Sat 7 Aug
  9. Sep7of 7: a trip from Sat 4 Sept
  10. Oct7of 7: a trip from Sat 2 Oct
  11. Nov7of 7: a trip from Mon 2 Nov
  12. Dec7of 7: a trip from Sat 5 Dec

Tap a month to see this spot for a trip then.

Typical, not a forecast: the sea and the mean wind of each day, with no gusts or rain in the history.

Map

the site and its town

Each place wears its best day on these dates: green good, amber fair, pale red poor, as the key says.

The map needs JavaScript. Every place on it is listed on this page, and each place's page links to Google Maps.

One finger scrolls the page; two fingers move the map. Pins are our own positions. Map OpenFreeMap, © OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

More diving near here

3 places

About

the place in full, sources, credits

About Portsea Pier East Reef

It suits Open Water divers and up, as a dive guide states it. The coast faces NE: swell from the NE reaches it, and wind from the SW blows out to sea. No dive centre within 10 km, the nearest 10 km away. The sea is about 13°C in July, its coldest month (7 mm semi-dry or a drysuit), and 20°C in February, its warmest (7 mm wetsuit and hood). The town to stay in is Portsea. Within 5 km we also list 4 surf spots, 3 wind sports spots and 4 dive sites.

  • What it is No source states what kind of site it is.
  • How deep No source states how deep it goes.
  • Who it suits Suits Open Water divers and up, as a dive guide states it.
  • Dive centres No dive centre within 10 km, the nearest 10 km away.

Water about 16°C: 7 mm wetsuit and hood. Typical sea temperature for the time of year, not a forecast.

Visibility about 5 m. Typical for the time of year, estimated from ten years of NASA satellite water clarity, not a forecast. Much the same all year (about 5 m).

The score is the conditions only: the journey, the price and the partners never change it (how we score, how we earn).

Rough cost (estimate): about US$1,780–US$3,430 each

about US$1,780–US$3,430 each · 6 nights, 2 sharing: flights, hire car, stay, food.

Our estimate from typical public prices, not a quote: check the real prices before you book (where they come from). Prices are about, in US Dollar (USD): our pound figures at the European Central Bank's rate of 30 October 2026.

How we worked it out 
Rough cost per person for this trip
WhatHow we worked it outEach
Flightsreturn MDW to MEL, estimated from distance and season, changing at LAX, full-service airlines, with a hold bagabout US$958–US$2,000
Hire car6 days, sharedabout US$147–US$241
Stay6 nights, a mid-range double, sharedabout US$355–US$596
Food7 days eating outabout US$322–US$596
Totalabout US$1,780–US$3,430

Guided dives are not priced yet: we have no sourced price, so it is not in it. Prices from public sources, checked in 2026.

Where to stay: Portsea

Closest

Portsea

3 min by car · 10 places to stay

about US$134/nightcountry average

See 10 places to stay in Portsea · Booking.com

About Portsea its beds, food and every spot near it

About US$134 a night is our estimate of the country's average 2-star double room that month: not each town's price, and not a quote. Drives are estimates. Prices are about, in US Dollar (USD): our pound figures at the European Central Bank's rate of 30 October 2026.

Getting there: about 29h 25m

About 29h 25m door to door from Chicago

Fly MDW → MEL, changing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), then 1h 35m by road

An estimate, one way; the journey never changes the score.

In the water

Dive centres nearby

  • Scubra Doctor 10 km

The nearest named dive centres and shops within 25 km, in a straight line; training agencies where the map states them. Listings, not a recommendation. Dive centres: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Credits

What you might see

Too few open records near this site to list its animals. Ask a dive centre what you are likely to see.

This week: visibility about 8 m, clearer than usual (satellite plankton reading, 24 Oct). Estimated from the month's typical visibility and this week's satellite chlorophyll against the site's normal; heavy rain before a dive can still muddy it.

The current and the life no free forecast gives. Ask a dive centre before you book.