Eastern shore (Frankston, Mornington Peninsula)
Patterson River (Carrum)
6 lanes, free, big carpark. The fleet hub for snapper season. River launch is fully sheltered; once you're out the bar, westerlies are your only problem. Slippery ramp surface — take it easy reversing in.
Kananook Creek (Frankston)
8 lanes, free, big carpark. Creek launch — fully sheltered from anything that isn't a westerly across the bay. Watch the silt. The creek mouth needs regular dredging; check council updates if you've got a deeper draft. Good fish-cleaning table.
Olivers Hill (Frankston South)
2 lanes, free, central pontoon. East-side ramp — anything west in the wind makes launching unpleasant. Shallow at low tide, exposed sandbars either side. Good for quick after-work runs.
Schnapper Point (Mornington)
2 lanes, free, fixed jetty. Tucked behind the headland, sheltered from southerlies and easterlies. Westerlies and northerlies hammer the launch. Reef edges close to the launch — go straight out. Mornington Pier upgrade was completed early 2026.
Martha Cove Marina (Safety Beach)
4 lanes, $20 launch & retrieve, floating pontoon. The all-weather option. Fully enclosed marina — launch in weather nobody else can. Fee is worth it on the hairy days. Daylight only.
Sorrento
3 lanes, free, jetties and breakwater. Southern PPB grounds and The Heads runs. Strong tidal flow — close to The Rip, take it seriously. Crowded on snapper mornings.
Rye
3 lanes, free, jetties either side. Sheltered from southerlies (the usual summer sea breeze). Northerlies push chop straight in — tough launch in a fresh north wind. Watch the shallows close to shore.
Northern shore
Mordialloc Creek
Multi-lane, sheltered creek launch. Northern-shore snapper grounds inside 2 km. Heavy silting historically — check before launching big boats.
Western shore (Bellarine)
St Leonards
Lower-traffic option, mid-summer KGW grounds inside the south-west bay. Fully exposed to southerlies.
Queenscliff Harbour
Marina launch (fee). Rip access, The Heads, southern PPB. Tidal flow is serious here.
Pick your ramp by tomorrow's wind
The simplest rule: match the ramp to the wind direction. Westerly forecast? Don't pick an east-shore ramp. Southerly? Don't pick Rye. The BayCast app shows the next 7 days of wind direction across both bays so you can pick before bedtime.
Stop guessing. Open BayCast.
Free version covers chart, wind, tide, diary and public marks. Pro adds bite forecast, range to spot, fuel cost and measuring tools — $89/year with code EARLY40, or $9.99/month.
GPS marks — drop, save, send to your sounder
Every public ramp in Port Phillip is in BayCast — drop a pin from any ramp, save it as a GPS mark, and export to your Lowrance, Garmin or Humminbird before you launch.
BayCast holds the kind of marks Port Phillip and Western Port anglers actually share — including:
- boating forecast port phillip alongside each ramp page
- boat ramp cameras port phillip bay shortcuts (where available)
- port phillip bay wind observations from the closest BoM station
Sign up and drop a pin → How drop-pin works
Compatible with Lowrance, Garmin and Humminbird — export as GPX, drop on your SD card, done.
Also commonly searched and answered inside the app: best boat ramps melbourne, boating victoria ramp cameras map, public boat ramps port phillip bay.