State guide · WA
Scuba diving in Western Australia
Ningaloo, Rottnest, the Rowley Shoals and 12,000 km of coast with almost no one on it.
- Dive sites
- 434
- Regions
- 16
- Wrecks
- 106
- Shore dives
- 111
- Beginner sites
- 164
Western Australia's coastline is longer than the rest of the mainland states combined and has fewer divers than Sydney. Around Perth the diving is temperate and easy: limestone reef ledges and caves along the metropolitan coast, the wreck trails at Rockingham and Coogee, the Swan wreck off Dunsborough and, 20 km offshore, Rottnest Island with more than 50 sites and the highest concentration of shipwrecks on the WA coast. The Leeuwin Current brings warm water south so that hard corals grow at the Abrolhos and even Rottnest, and tropical fish turn up in Perth every summer.
North of Geraldton the coast turns tropical. Ningaloo Reef fringes the coast for 260 km and is one of the few places on earth where you can swim off a beach onto a coral reef; it is famous for whale sharks (March to July), humpbacks (August to October) and mantas year-round at Coral Bay. The Exmouth Navy Pier has been called the best pier dive in the world. Further north the Rowley Shoals, three atolls 300 km off Broome, are dived by liveaboard for a few weeks each spring and offer some of the clearest water and healthiest coral in Australia.
The south coast, from Augusta around to Esperance, is the wild card: granite islands, kelp forests, sea lions and leafy seadragons, the HMAS Perth wreck in Albany and the islands of the Recherche Archipelago, dived by a handful of operators in short weather windows. Inland, the Nullarbor caves (Cocklebiddy, Weebubbie, Tommy Grahams) are expedition-grade cave dives with permits required.
The four WA diving zones
Perth and Rottnest are dived year-round, best from February to May when the summer sea breeze eases and the swell is low; almost everything is 8–25 m and reachable on half-day charters from Fremantle, Hillarys and Mindarie. The South-West (Busselton, Dunsborough, Margaret River, Augusta) has the Busselton Jetty, the HMAS Swan and limestone reef caves, best in summer easterlies. The Coral Coast (Kalbarri, Shark Bay, Coral Bay, Exmouth) is the destination for big animals and is at its best from March to November; Exmouth boats work the Ningaloo westside sites, the Muiron Islands and the Navy Pier. The Kimberley and Rowley Shoals are liveaboard-only, September to December.
Weather
The two forces are the afternoon sea breeze (the 'Fremantle Doctor'), which arrives around midday from October to March and turns flat mornings into 20-knot chop, and the Southern Ocean swell, which pounds the south and south-west coasts through winter. Perth divers therefore dive early and prefer autumn; south-coast divers wait for the rare calm days; northern divers avoid the December to March cyclone season and dive the dry.
Operators and independence
Shore diving is unrestricted and Perth has dozens of easy entries from Rockingham to Mindarie. Rottnest is boat-only from the mainland but a few sites can be reached by bicycle and fins from the island's bays. Exmouth and Coral Bay have several operators and a busy whale-shark tourism industry; Albany, Esperance, Geraldton and Broome have one or two shops each and trips depend on demand. The Navy Pier is dived only with the licensed operator on a naval base, with photo ID required.
When to dive Western Australia
February – May
Perth and Rottnest at their best: warm (21–23 °C), calm mornings, good visibility.
March – July
Whale shark season at Ningaloo; mantas at Coral Bay year-round.
September – December
Rowley Shoals liveaboard season; humpbacks at Ningaloo August–October; Abrolhos trips in spring.
The five dives to do first
1. Ningaloo – Exmouth · WA
Exmouth Navy Pier
A working naval pier that shelters more fish per square metre than almost any site in Australia: grey nurse sharks, wobbegongs, giant gropers and frogfish.
2. Geographe Bay & Busselton · WA
HMAS Swan Wreck
A 113 m destroyer escort scuttled off Dunsborough in 1997 with easy penetration and resident schools of fish.
3. Ningaloo – Exmouth · WA
Ningaloo Whale Shark Swim
Snorkelling with whale sharks off Exmouth is the most reliable encounter on earth, March to July.
4. Rottnest Island · WA
Rottnest Ships' Graveyard
The deep-water dumping ground west of Rottnest, home to technical wrecks in 30–200 m.
5. Albany & Great Southern · WA
HMAS Perth Wreck
Albany's 133 m guided-missile destroyer in cold, clear water, scuttled in 2001.
Also worth planning around
1. Geographe Bay & Busselton · WA
Busselton Jetty
A 1.8 km jetty with an underwater observatory, coral-encrusted pylons and easy diving.
2. Perth · WA
Blackwall Reach (Swan River)
A river dive in Perth's suburbs with cliffs, caves and unexpected marine life.
3. Nullarbor Caves · WA
Cocklebiddy Cave
One of the longest underwater caves in the world under the Nullarbor. Expedition cave diving only.
Dive regions of Western Australia
16 regions, 434 sites. Each region page has a written introduction, a suggested itinerary and every site with depth, level and access.
Perth's metropolitan coast from Rockingham to Mindarie has limestone reef ledges, caves and swim-throughs in 5–20 m, the wreck trails at…
Rottnest, 20 km off Fremantle, has more than 50 dive sites, the most shipwrecks on the WA coast (the Rottnest Wreck Trail and the deep…
Exmouth is the base for Ningaloo's headline experiences: whale shark swims from March to July, humpback swims from August to October, and…
Albany has the HMAS Perth, a 133 m destroyer scuttled in King George Sound in 2001, the Cheynes III whale chaser wreck, and the granite…
The Dampier Archipelago and the Montebello Islands have coral reefs, WWII and pearling wrecks and turtles in warm, tidal, often turbid…
The Cape-to-Cape coast has limestone reef, caves and the Hamelin Bay stingray beach, where huge smooth rays cruise the shallows; Canal…
Esperance's Recherche Archipelago has more than 100 granite islands in clear Southern Ocean water: sea lions, fur seals, leafy seadragons,…
Geographe Bay is sheltered from the Southern Ocean swell and has the 1.8 km Busselton Jetty with its underwater observatory, the HMAS Swan…
The Houtman Abrolhos, 60 km off Geraldton, are 122 islands with coral reefs, the Batavia (1629) wreck site and huge crayfish populations in…
Broome's diving is tidal and turbid but full of history: the pearling-lugger wrecks, WWII flying boats sunk in Roebuck Bay in 1942 and…
Coral Bay, at the southern end of Ningaloo, has manta rays year-round on the Bateman Bay cleaning stations, a shore snorkel over hard coral…
Three atolls 300 km off Broome, the Rowley Shoals rise from 400 m of water with vertical walls, coral that sees a few hundred divers a…
Jurien Bay and the Turquoise Coast between Perth and Geraldton have sea lion colonies (Jurien's swims are among the best in Australia),…
Kalbarri's Blue Holes shore snorkel and the reefs off the river mouth, and Shark Bay's Steep Point and Dirk Hartog Island reefs and wrecks,…
South of Perth, Mandurah has the Dawesville Cut and estuary channels, the Fisheries artificial reef and the Preston Beach and Halls Head…
Under the Nullarbor Plain lie some of the longest and deepest underwater cave systems on earth: Cocklebiddy (more than 6 km of passage),…
Popular, well-documented dives in Western Australia
Western Australia diving FAQ
When is whale shark season at Ningaloo?
Whale sharks arrive after the March coral spawning and are reliably seen until July, with April to June the peak. Humpback whale swims run from August to October.
What is the best diving near Perth?
Rottnest Island for variety and wrecks, the Rockingham and Coogee wreck trails for easy shore dives, and the reef ledges off Mindarie and Ocean Reef. Late summer and autumn mornings give the best conditions.
How cold is the water in WA?
Perth ranges from 17 °C in late winter to 23 °C in autumn. Ningaloo is 22–29 °C. The south coast can be 15 °C in winter.