G'day from Boston, I am visiting my family in Melbourne next month, in April and want to do at least one dive excursion off the Victoria shores. We will be spending a few days in Phillips Island as well. Are there any dive ops on Phillips Island? From the board it appears that Dive Victoria in Portsea is the main spot to head from. I will need to rent gear as I don't want to bring all my stuff just for one or two dives. I am used to cold water diving in the US Northeast. Any advice and recommendations will be appreciated. Thanks
The dive op off Phillip Island is
rusthunters.com. I have not used them before but I have heard they are good. I did book once but weather cancelled the dive
Dive Victoria is also good and I have not had any issues with them. They have the nicest boats (all have a heads, and one even has a hot shower
). Note that they also pick up from Queenscliff side too (as do most of the charters), however if you are based near Phillip Island then Portsea is closer (about 1.5 hours drive from Phillip Island). From the CBD, Queenscliff and Portsea are pretty similar distances.
In fact, all the main charters seem to be pretty decent so I don't think you will do wrong with any of them. Other charters include Hendersons
Home - Divecoast.com and he does a lot of cray dives if that is your think. There is Oz Dive Charter
Melbourne SCUBA diving charters Oz Dive Charters Home and they do smaller groups (and more interesting sites usually). And also Scuttlebutt
Scuttlebutt Scuba Charters - but he is not often in the bay (operates out of Torquay) - he does wrecks in the Ship's Graveyard often (but they are generally below rec depths).
For gear rental, most of the charters offer gear rentals. However, I usually recommend Pete at
The Scuba Doctor - Home - Scuba Service and Repair, Dive Shop, Courses and Trips - they are good value and if you need any gear whilst you are here I would recommend him as he has the best shop for gear. They also have the cheapest fills ($5 for air, $16approx for nitrox). I would bring along mask, gloves, boots + fins as they are harder to rent. For boat diving too, I would really recommend an SMB as the boats do not do anchored diving generally.
Water temperature in April will be 15-17C. Viz is usually 5-10m.
As far as dive sites go, what are you interested in? Yell out if you have any more questions.
