The new Searoad Ferries Sorrento Terminal features a glass floor, spiral staircase and waterfront restaurant.
You can now walk on water in Sorrento — well, sort of.
Searoad Ferries has opened its new $30 million Sorrento Ferry Terminal, built entirely over Port Phillip Bay.
The terminal sits on pylons above the water, making it one of Australia’s only permanent structures established fully over the bay. A decade in the making and entirely self-funded, the Searoad Ferries Sorrento Terminal features a glass observatory floor, a spiral staircase and a coastal Mediterranean restaurant called ONDA. It’s one of the most complex marine builds undertaken in Victoria, designed by F2 Architecture and constructed by Maben Group.
The project reimagines the ferry crossing between the Mornington and Bellarine peninsulas, turning what was previously a straightforward commute into somewhere worth arriving early for. The entire $30 million build was delivered using local Victorian builders, contractors, engineers and suppliers, with fully accessible gangways engineered by Crib Point Engineering — a firm with more than 60 years of specialist marine fabrication experience.
Searoad Ferries Sorrento Terminal
- Searoad Ferries Sorrento Terminal, 10 The Esplanade, Sorrento
- Open from 6 March 2026
- ONDA restaurant opening mid-March
- searoad.com.au
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ONDA seats 150 diners — 100 inside and 50 on the deck — with unobstructed water views from every table. Led by executive chef Mike Jaques and head chef Toby Marks, the menu centres on seafood, wood-fired pizzas and spritzes, drawing on coastal Mediterranean flavours with a focus on local and seasonal produce. It’s Sorrento’s only dining experience built directly on the water.
Searoad’s Queenscliff Terminal, also designed by F2 Architecture, picked up international and national recognition in 2024, including the International Architectural Masterprize and the Master Builders Victoria Excellence in Construction Award. The Sorrento build follows that success, positioning both terminals as architectural landmarks on either side of the bay.
Searoad Ferries has operated the crossing between Sorrento and Queenscliff since 1987, carrying close to one million passengers a year and employing more than 300 people across Victoria.
For more information, head here.
