West White Beach is a strip of white coral sand at the north-western end of the island, backed by tall rainforest and cliffs and visible from the settlement area across the water. Parks Australia rates the walking track a Grade 4 – a rainforest trek followed by a rope-assisted descent of a steep cliff – so most visitors arrive by boat, and the dive operators offer boat transfers.

Offshore is what Parks Australia calls a spectacular reef. Extra Divers list the site from shore to 15 m and describe a shallow coral dive with anemones and clownfish, where frequent large visitors including whale sharks and dolphins demonstrate the best of the island's marine life. The reef flat and slope are covered in hard corals – plate, branching and massive forms – with fields of anemones hosting clownfish, and the full cast of reef fish: butterflyfish, angelfish, parrotfish, surgeonfish, wrasse and triggerfish. Turtles are common. Beyond the reef edge the island's wall drops away, and that is where spinner dolphins, reef sharks and, in season, whale sharks appear.

Nearby, West White Beach Cave – a large cavern with two entrances – is dived separately, and the two are sometimes combined on the same trip, one as a cave dive and the other as a shallow reef dive or snorkel.

West White Beach is one of the best shallow dives on the island and suits beginners, snorkellers and photographers; experienced divers enjoy the chance of big animals in shallow water. Being at the far end of the north coast, it needs calm conditions for the boat run.

Fly from Perth (about 4 hours, two to three flights a week, some via Cocos Islands) and hire a car – there is no public transport. Both dive centres are in The Settlement and launch their boats from the jetty/boat ramp at Flying Fish Cove, normally at about 8 am for a two-dive morning trip. From the cove the boat runs west and south-west along the north coast along the coast for roughly about 30 minutes to West White Beach.

There is no land access to the dive, and the vertical sea cliffs mean no exit other than the boat. Operators choose sites on the morning according to swell and wind. Snorkellers can walk in: a 2WD road leads to the trailhead, then a Grade 4 rainforest track and a rope-assisted descent of a steep cliff to the beach – too hard for carrying scuba gear.

On the exposed west coast, a long run from Flying Fish Cove, so it is only dived on calm days. The site is sheltered from the south-east trades (roughly May–November) but wide open to north-westerly monsoon swell (December–April) and to long-period south-west groundswell generated in the Southern Ocean, which wraps around Egeria Point. Operators generally need less than about 1–1.5 m of swell and light winds to make the trip; the calmest spell is usually August–November.

The west coast has a reputation for stronger and less predictable currents than the north, and for the clearest water on the island (often 40 m+). Visibility can drop during red crab spawning (Oct–Jan). Cyclone season is November–April.

Descend onto the shallow reef, cruise the coral heads and anemone patches at 6–12 m, then move to the reef edge to look at the drop-off and blue water for passing whale sharks or dolphins, returning shallow for a long safety stop.

Extra Divers Christmas Island – regular boat dive and snorkel stop; CI Wet'n'Dry Adventures – regular. Dive operators also offer boat transfers to the beach.