Thistle Cove is a small, quiet cove in Cape Le Grand National Park, just west of Lucky Bay, enclosed by rounded granite boulders that shelter it from much of the swell. It was named in 1802 by Matthew Flinders after John Thistle, master of HMS Investigator. Visitors come for the view, the white sand and Whistling Rock, a large hollowed granite boulder above the beach that produces a whistling sound when the wind blows through it.

The snorkelling follows the granite on either side of the cove, where boulders drop onto sand in a few metres of water. Kelp, sargassum and coralline algae cover the rock, and fish such as herring, sweep, old wives, wrasse and scalyfin shelter in the cracks, with rays over the sand. It is shallow, easy and usually uncrowded compared with Lucky Bay next door.

There are no facilities at Thistle Cove itself – toilets and camping are at Lucky Bay, a few minutes' drive away – and like all Cape Le Grand beaches it is unpatrolled.

From Esperance drive east on Fisheries Road and Merivale Road, then turn onto Cape Le Grand Road into Cape Le Grand National Park (about 55-65 km, 50-60 minutes, all sealed). Park entry fees apply (DBCA pass or day fee at the entry station). Thistle Cove is signposted off the Lucky Bay road, about 63 km from Esperance.

A small car park sits above the cove, and a short path leads down to the beach past Whistling Rock, a hollowed granite boulder that 'whistles' in the wind. Enter from the sand and snorkel along the boulders.

Cape Le Grand's bays face south and east toward the Recherche islands, which break some of the Southern Ocean swell. Westerly and north-westerly winds are offshore and calm the bays; strong south-easterly sea breezes (most summer afternoons) and the 'Esperance Doctor' easterlies make them choppy and cloudy. Winter south-westerly swells produce surf in the more exposed bays.

Thistle Cove is sheltered by granite boulders and is usually calm in westerly weather; south-easterly winds and swell make it choppy. Snorkel in the morning.

Snorkel from the beach along the granite on one side of the cove to its mouth, then back along the other side.

No operator – independent snorkelling.