Waikiki Beach, in Safety Bay, was once home to a whimsical artificial reef: chairs, benches, swing sets and tyre stacks placed in about 9 m to create habitat about 100 m off the beach. Most of it has since dispersed or been buried, and what remains is a roughly 10 m by 10 m patch of upright poles, ropes attached to buoys and scattered debris on a sandy slope that continues to about 15 m.

The reason to dive it now is the lionfish. Howies found a gang of unusually large mature lionfish, some about 300 mm long, living around the remnants, and the Marine Life Network also notes a strong lionfish population. Beyond them, divers report seahorses, rays, ascidians and sea stars, with the usual Cockburn Sound macro life on the structure.

Visibility is the limitation: typically a few metres and easily reduced by silt. The site has no dive flag, and boats use Safety Bay, so bring your own flag and follow the marker. At night, once the silt settles, it can be a calm and productive dive.

Waikiki suits local divers looking for something different on a day when southerly winds make other beaches rough, or a night dive close to Rockingham. It is not a destination dive, and anyone expecting the original playground reef will be disappointed.

For photographers, the lionfish are confiding and make good subjects, but keep a respectful distance from their spines and avoid lying on the debris, where stinging hydroids and sharp edges are common.

Drive to Safety Bay Foreshore Reserve at the corner of Safety Bay Road and Malibu Road, Safety Bay, and park in the car park by the toilet block. Walk down the ramp onto the beach and swim about 100 m out past the summer swimming platforms to the yellow marker buoy or floating pontoon, then descend to the reef at about 9 m. The slope beyond continues to about 15 m.

About 45 minutes from the Perth CBD and 10 minutes from Rockingham.

Safety Bay faces north, so the site is sheltered from southerly and south-westerly winds and swell but exposed to northerly winds, which are the conditions that close it. Visibility is usually only a few metres and worsens as silt is stirred. It is sheltered from northerlies according to the Marine Life Network, but Howies notes exposure to severe weather systems; in practice it is a calm-day or southerly-weather site.

Mornings are best in summer.

Descend on the marker buoy line to the reef remnants at about 9 m, circle the poles, debris and tyres slowly looking for lionfish and seahorses, then explore the slope to 12–15 m before returning to the buoy line to ascend.

No regular operator; occasional local and club dives, including night dives.