Exmouth, Western Australia - June 2005.

Click all images to enlarge. Click here to view the Exmouth image and video gallery.

Zerovisibility has recently returned from our latest diving trip which was to Australia. Throughout the trip we managed to take in some of the best diving Australia has to offer. Our first area was Exmouth in the North West cape of Western Australia. For images and videos click here.

We were booked to dive with the Exmouth Diving Centre is located in Exmouth, Australia. Exmouth is a small town of about 3,500 people situated just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, about 1,270 km north of Perth. We arrived from Perth via Skywest airlines. The nearest airport is Learmonth and is just 35km south of Exmouth. Flying the distance to Exmouth is preferable to driving if you are pressured for time. The drive from Exmouth to Perth on the Greyhound bus service takes around 20 hours. You can drive in your own car in around 14 hours. The Skywest flight, cost around £150 UK pounds and took around 2 and a half hours. The plane itself was comfortable and the service excellent. We were carrying around 50KG of luggage and this was not an issue with them or Qantas on the flight into Perth. If you have the time the drive is meant to be great as you can take in the dolphins at Monkey Mia and other great sights in the outback. You can also fly to Exmouth from Darwin.

Western Australia - Where is Exmouth?

Learmonth airport is also a military airport so no photos were allowed. It is a very small area but it does have a small cafe that serves drinks and food. From the airport we then took the airport shuttle bus into the town. This takes around 20 minutes and costs $19 Australian dollars each. The town itself is not ideally designed for tourists and is quite spaced out. Having said that if you are just diving then you will not really need a rental car to get around. There are buses available to the nearby town beach and also another nicer beach further away.

The Exmouth Diving Centre is run by Kristen Anderson, we contacted her many months before the trip and she was a great help deciding when to come, how to get there and where to stay. They have a great information pack which provides you all the information you need to know. She also helped book our accommodation and this is a great help as we were planning to stay for a while. We also pre-booked all our diving, this is something I would not normally do but they have a great variation in trips and we wanted to make sure we did all we wanted to do. One thing to note there is a cancellation policy so you need to be careful when doing this.

We stayed at the Potshot resort in Exmouth that is ideally situated near the Exmouth Diving Centre, it was only 5 minutes walk from our room. The complex is functional with a small swimming pool, bar, restaurant and a pub all available. My feeling was that our accommodation was quite expensive for what we had, we opted for one of the Homestead rooms. This was a economy minded room that is basically a galvanized metal building. This cost $90 Australian dollars a night. I think if we had our time again we would have upgraded and spent a little more to get better accommodation. It did serve us well though and the bed, shower, fridge and air conditioning all worked very well. Certainly the Potshot has plenty of choice for rooms and some looked very nice. Click here for information.

Weather conditions in Exmouth are generally very clear. The town was built up around a military radio base and this was positioned here due to the clear skies. We were visiting Exmouth during their winter and this should have given temperatures in the high twenties and clear skies. When we arrived however it was overcast and windy. Talking to some of the locals, rain is very rare here. Exmouth is basically an outback town by the coast with has a very dramatic but empty surrounding area. It normally only rains 4 or 5 times a year. When we were there though we did see a few hours of rain over the few days we were there. That said the weather the rest of the time was good and sunny but the windy conditions did not leave us for our stay there. The air temperature was around 27C for most of the days we were there.

On arrival we booked into the dive centre and organized our equipment. First impressions were good, the staff were helpful and friendly and the dive shop and centre well equipped.

Exmouth dive centre - Click to enlarge

The time of year we decided to visit Exmouth was the Australian winter and the main reason for this was to avoid the very high temperatures in the Summer which can rise above 40C and also to check out the whale shark season. Exmouth is one of the few places in the world where you can nearly guarantee whale shark sightings. Added to this you can see manta rays and also migrating hump back whales if you are lucky. We were expecting a great weeks diving.

Our first day started early at 7.30am. We met up at the dive centre and then packaged our kit into mesh bags. This was the first difference from most of the diving I have done previously. Normally your gear and tanks are packed and taken by the staff to the boat in places such as the Red Sea and the Maldives. Here though there is not the level of staffing to do this so instead we all helped out. For us this certainly was no problem but for certain trips it would add around 2 hours or more to the days activities. You are not obliged to help out though so if you do not want to, or perhaps if you cannot do it physically then you do not have to. We were then taken via a minibus to Tantabiddi. This is where we meet up with the boat and we are taken with the equipment via a RIB. Tantabiddi is on the west coast and is around a 30 minute drive from Exmouth. Again this all adds to the length of the day's diving. This is no fault of Exmouth Diving Centre however and they do as good a job as you can expect with the location of the centre and the current boats and facilities.

Our first trip would include 2 morning reef dives. This was booked at a cost of around $115 with tanks and weights and $135 with equipment. If you book a lot of diving you can get a 10 percent reduction in the cost of the dives. The boat for this dive was called Concorde. This boat was one of Exmouth Dives smaller boats but was clean and well equipped. There were not too many divers so there was plenty of space for kitting up. The weather conditions today though were quite windy so this made the water very choppy. Not good for seasickness sufferers and made worse by the smaller boat.

The first dive of the day was on the Anchor dive site. This was a site which consisted of a gently sloping reef which was made up of limestone type rock. Both fish life and coral life was fairly average. The conditions were quite difficult with visibility of only 10 metres and some current to deal with. Of note there was nothing much to rave about but a large school of snapper was nice. Maximum depth of the dive was around 27 metres and the water temperature was 27C. The water temperature varied around 26C and 27C for our time in Exmouth. We were using 5mm wetsuits for the dives and found these to be perfect. Visibility was quite low due to the high levels of plankton in the water at this time of year. The upside to this is that this attracts the pelagics into the dive sites close to the shore. Throughout the week this made life difficult taking photographs.

The second dive of the day was central station. This dive site is a cleaning station for a variety of large fish, sharks and other pelagics. We were very hopeful of seeing sharks and manta rays being cleaned on this site. Manta rays were just coming into season in Exmouth during this time, unfortunately we were unlucky this dive. The visibility on this site was much better, probably around 15 metres. This site was similar to the first but not as deep and closer to the shore. This meant the maximum depth was around 12 metres. Fish life was nice on this dive with a large variety of reef fish, also a large moray eel and a good sized blue spotted stingray. Also spotted was a North West Cape sailfin catfish, this fish is endemic to the area and is black in colour. They are very common in the region and can be seen on most dives. They look quite sinister due to their black colour but are totally harmless.

For the afternoon we were expecting to do the Navy Pier dive. This dive is rated as one of the best dives in Australia, if not the world. Unfortunately for us the unusual weather conditions meant it was too choppy to do the dive. Due to it being a pier based dive the conditions have to be just right and this means they can only dive it when the tidal conditions are perfect. Also due to the strong winds the surge was very big and the pier was unsheltered. This would mean we were likely to have major problems getting out of the water up the ladder. Therefore the dive was abandoned and we booked onto the dive again later in the week, hoping the conditions would improve.

The next day we were again booked to do the whale shark safari. The plan for the day was to do a dive or snorkel in the early morning and then go looking for whale sharks to snorkel with after that. This trip was on a larger boat named Sea-zone, this not only had a very large kit up area but due to the bigger size made for a more comfortable day trip. This trip certainly was not cheap and was $345 Australian dollars with our own equipment. This is expensive but the chance to swim with whales sharks made the cost worth it in our opinion. That was if we managed to see them! That said if we did not see the sharks then we would be given a free repeat tour to try again. From late March to July each year the Whale Sharks converge on the nutrient rich waters of the Ningaloo Reef. The coral spawning at Ningaloo happens at the end of March and this signals the beginning of the season.

For the first dive we were again taken to Central station however on this day the conditions were not so favorable and the visibility was again limited to around 10 metres. Having said that the sea conditions were much better and far less choppy probably due to it being less windy. On this dive we again saw a very nice shoal of snapper around a coral head. Also around another small bommie glass fish were circulating and other reef fish were also present. Generally the fish life seemed slightly less prolific than the afternoon dive the previous day. Towards the end of the dive we spotted a very large loggerhead turtle resting underneath some rocks. This was one of the largest turtles I have ever seen and he seemed happy to rest while we took some pictures.

The whale shark adventure started at 10:00am. At this time a spotter plane takes off to spot the sharks from the air. This then allows the boats to intercept the swimming shark and allow a much greater chance to see the sharks. At Ningaloo Reef there are strict rules in place for registered dive operations to comply with. If they do not comply then they may lose their whale shark licence, here certainly the whale sharks health is the most important thing. This means you must stay 4 metres away from the shark and not approach from the front. Also you are not allowed to duck dive underneath the shark. These rules are for everyones benefit and if someone breaks them most likely the shark will dive and we would not see it again.

On our trip the first shark was spotted at around 10:05am! however when the boat attempted to get close enough to drop us in the water it kept diving away from us. Eventually we gave up on this shark and tried to find another. The whale shark safari is conducted as a snorkeling experience. What generally happens is that one group of snorkellers are dropped into the water and then when the shark swims past they can then continue to snorkel with the shark. The guide (spotter) then swims at the front of the group with arm raised, when the arm is raised it means they can see the shark and this means we also have something to follow if necessary. Then after a period of time the other group of snorkellers is dropped into the water in the right place and then the first group is picked up by the boat. While with a shark this operation can happen many times and can become physically very demanding, especially if the shark is swimming quickly. It really is very hard work keeping up with this big fish!

Our first sighting in the water was a 5.5 metre whale shark. Unfortunately it was a fast swimmer but we got 4 or 5 drops before we decided to move onto a different shark. This gave plenty of opportunities for video and pictures! For most of the experience we were the only boat but later another boat joined in and this made the action less frenetic. In Exmouth the whale shark spotting is very organized and all operations share the access to the shark equally. Later in the day we swam with another shark which was smaller 3-4 metres and had some significant scarring on it, the guides on the boat said this shark had been spotted in previous years and the scars were most likely from a large shark attack. This shark was swimming much slower and allowed a more relaxed and much easier whale shark experience! All in all the day was a great experience and it was worth the cost. Visibility in the water was variable due to the plankton and photographing the sharks was difficult due to this. For more images and videos click here.

The next day we were only booked for a single afternoon dive on the Navy Pier. The cost of this trip is $85 Australian dollars. The Navy Pier site is located on a military base so access is limited for divers. This means only one dive company is allowed to have the licence to dive here. Exmouth Diving Centre has the licence currently and this made this dive an absolute must do. Today the conditions were much better and the wind direction had changed which meant that access in and out of the water was more sheltered and the water very calm. Entry to the water is via a giant stride from the pier, this is fairly exciting due to it being around a 3 metre drop into the water. Once in the water the first thing to notice was the water temperature. Here the water seemed quite a bit cooler and was 25C, this was partly due to the shade of the pier I think. The visibility was also much worse than other dives we had done so far, it was around 7 metres.

Navy Pier and schooling trevally

Under the pier there were various pillars and metal bars that were encrusted in corals and shellfish. This meant good buoyancy control was needed to navigate the site much like any other swim through or wreck penetration. Simply put this dive was fantastic, the site itself is fairly small around the end of the pier area but the amount of fish crammed into the space is phenomenal. Everywhere you look you would see something new, which meant the dive was never boring and the time flew past. The depth of the site is around 12 metres so this meant a nice long dive exploring the area. Fish life seen on this dive included a wobbegong shark, large white tip reef sharks, coral trout, large cods and groupers, lion fish, stone fish, scorpion fish, frog fish, moray eels, and very large schools of big eye trevally and chevron barracuda. All fish on the site seemed larger than normal and this may be due to the ban on fishing at this site. The fish also seemed completely at ease with divers and this allowed some close inspection of some very large fish. This is a dive site I would have loved to have dived again and it is firmly placed in my top 5 dive sites of all time!

On returning to the dive centre another group had got lucky on the local reef dives and had seen 13 manta rays. A great experience for the divers on that dive and it proved that the manta rays were coming into season at this time of year.

Our final day in Exmouth was spent doing another local reef trip. We were meant to be booked onto the Murion Islands or Mandu Wall trip however due to the poor weather conditions we ended up diving locally again although we were further out than the previous trips. The first dive was at a site named Three fins. Again this site was similar to that dived previously with the same rocky limestone sea floor. On this dive we managed to see two white tip reef sharks. Reef fish were also fairly nice and the coral was better than previous dive sites. On this dive we also managed to spot a number of colourful nudibranches. These seemed easy to spot in Exmouth against the rocky background. The surface conditions were good on this dive and the visibility was around 15 to 20 metres.

The last dive in Exmouth was at the Hollows dive site. Here the surface conditions were again very good although the visibility was not quite as good as the morning dive. This site again had nice coral and decent reef fish life. In particular a very large shoal of convict surgeonfish eating algae from the rocks was quite impressive. Again more nudibranches were seen on the dive too. A nice end to a good days diving was had, when we were back on the boat Humpback whales surfaced close by. We managed to stay with them for quite a few minutes and we got a reasonable view of them from a distance. It is this time of year that the humpbacks migrate up the Australian coast. Later in the year they sometimes wait around the coasts but at this time they are only interested in getting where they are going.

All in all Exmouth is definitely worth visiting if you are traveling to Australia and you are considering diving. In peak season you have the opportunity to see whale sharks, manta rays and humpback whales. Exmouth Diving Centre name these species the "Big 3" and the best time to do this is actually late June early July. Not only that but the quality of the diving is generally good and the conditions and fish life are reminiscent of the Maldives. No surprise since we are diving in the Indian Ocean. If that was not enough the Navy Pier dive site is probably worth the trip alone! Certainly a dive site I would love to do again. The only downside to Exmouth is that it is remote and hard to reach, even Perth felt remote to me and that was before the 2 and a half hour plane ride to get up to Exmouth! Certainly I would visit again and hopefully the wind and sea conditions will allow us to visit the Murion Islands and Mandu wall next time. The centre is definitely recommended and the staff and dive instructors were good at their job and very helpful indeed.

Once we were finished here we were then scheduled to drive down to Coral Bay to sample the diving there at the sister dive centre to Exmouth Diving Centre, Ningaloo Reef Dive.

Colourful grouper

Green Moray eel

Whale shark advernture

One end of the Navy Pier

Banner fish at the Navy Pier

Navy Pier and schooling trevally

Catfish at the Navy Pier

Some nice coral can be seen