Hamelin Bay's stingrays are one of the best-known wildlife encounters in the South West. Cape to Cape Explorer Tours describes three types in the bay - smooth stingrays, black stingrays and eagle rays - gliding over the sand to forage for molluscs and crustaceans and congregating around the old wooden jetty pylons and in the shallows along the beach. Summer brings the best viewing, when the rays hunt in clear water visible from shore. Marinelife.org.au notes that the large rays were historically hand-fed and encouraged to shore; the WA Parks and Wildlife Service now advises visitors to watch without touching or feeding, as rays will defend themselves with their tail barbs.

The smooth stingrays here are among the largest rays in Australian waters, and seeing them sweep past a snorkeller in a metre of water is memorable. The jetty piles, the remains of an 1880s timber jetty, add some structure and small fish, and the bay's four visible wrecks - Agincourt, Chaudiere, Katinka and Toba - lie a short distance away and are listed separately.

It suits everyone: families watching from the sand, snorkellers in the shallows, and divers using the ramp to reach the wrecks and reefs. Marinelife.org.au notes the bay is not a no-fishing zone and that numbers of crays, large fish and abalone have fallen.

Hamelin Bay was a timber port from the 1880s, when a jetty built in 1882 and extended in 1898 served M. C. Davies' milling operations. It was notorious for wrecks in bad weather because it is exposed to the north-west gales of winter storms; the 22 July 1900 storm alone wrecked several ships, and only the old jetty piles remain today. The bay is now a recreation zone in the Ngari Capes Marine Park, and every wreck in it older than 75 years is protected.

Hamelin Bay is on the coast west of Karridale, about 35 km south of Margaret River and 30 km north of Augusta, reached via Caves Road and Hamelin Bay Road. Park at the boat ramp/jetty area beside the Hamelin Bay Holiday Park. Walk onto the beach beside the ramp; the rays are usually in the shallows by the jetty pilings and ramp.

Snorkellers can swim among the old piles in calm weather. All reefs are several hundred metres from the beach, so diving the reefs and wrecks further out needs a boat.

Summer is best, when rays are active and the water is clear enough to see them from shore. The bay is open to the north-west and west, so winter storms make it rough; on calm summer days it is sheltered and clear. Sand stirs easily with any swell.

General pattern on the Capes and Leeuwin coast: summer mornings often have light easterly (offshore) winds before a south-westerly sea breeze, and long-period south-westerly groundswell can arrive on otherwise calm days; winter fronts bring big swell and north-westerly winds. Check the Bureau of Meteorology swell forecast, not just the wind.

Watch from the shore first, then snorkel slowly along the shallows and around the jetty piles, keeping low and still so rays can approach; do not touch or feed them. Snorkellers should stay within easy reach of the exit point and swim with a buddy; scuba divers at these depths need no safety stop but should ascend slowly and surface near the float.

No operator needed - self-guided. Tour companies (e.g. Cape to Cape Explorer Tours) include the stingrays on South West tours.