Western Australia dives for your bucket list
With summer only a few months away, why not start planning your summer holiday diving around stunning Western Australia with these dives for your Bucket List.
Here’s our top 8 Dive Sites in Western Australia worth ticking off the Bucket List (not in any particular order). You just need to get your PADI Open Water ticket to enjoy the most of these sites!
Navy Pier, Exmouth. The best shore dive in the world?
Voted as being one of the top shore dive sites in the world it certainly lives up to its expectations. The 300-metre long Navy Pier was built in the 1960s by the US military and underneath is around 200 species of marine life. You can spot nudibranchs’, sharks, morays, sea snakes, octopus and a friendly Queensland Grouper. Not the cheapest dive in the world, with only one dive shop having access to the dive site but worth doing the once. Currently Dive Ningaloo has the licence to dive the Pier. We just came back from Exmouth and we were lucky to dive there a night time. It was an exceptional dive where we made friends with the Big Friendly Grouper.
Shark Cave, Rottnest Island
Home to endangered Grey Nurse Sharks, you can see up to 15 or more on a dive where they congregate at a nice cave in 24 meters of water to the west end of Rottnest Island. Not only do you come here for the amazing sharks but the reef itself is quite spectacular with fun swim through and caves with beautiful colours of hard and soft coral. Unfortunately due to the location of the dive site, it can be hard to access and is susceptible to big swell. You need pretty good conditions to dive there. Only 1 hour boat ride from Fremantle, it is definitely worth the visit.
Busselton Jetty, Busselton
The longest timber jetty in the Southern Hemisphere at 1.841km long, is worth the long walk with gear. Home to a large number of marine life, it is as good during the day as it is at night. The jetty pylons are covered in beautiful soft coral and it’s easy to find the home of 2 cuttlefish as well as rays, hundreds of puffer fish, crocodile fish and if you’re lucky a port Jackson shark. It’s $4 for a day pass to access the Jetty and bring a trolley for the walk down the 1.8km long Jetty or pay a $38 dollars for the train, but if it’s busy you might not get a seat. The walk is bearable, with a trolley. Just don’t leave any valuables behind while diving as it can be a busy spot, especially during holidays. Another great tip is check in with the webcam at the underwater observatory prior to plan your dive as certain times of the year (Winter) the visibility goes to a couple of meters.
HMAS Swan-from Dunsborough or Busselton
Dunsborough has a few dives for your Bucket List, this is one of our favourites. One of the largest accessible dive wrecks in the Southern hemisphere. At 113m in length it was a naval destroyer until it was scuttled in 1997. An awesome wreck that you can penetrate, it’s a fun dive which allows you to easily enter from all areas and poke your head around. A sea of pufferfish wait for you as you descend to 30m and you’ll find wobbegongs, bat fish and western blue devil fish. An easy boat trip from either Dunsborough or Busselton.
The Lena, Bunbury
Sitting in 20m of water makes it easy to dive this very beautiful wreck and a great dive for both beginners and Advanced divers. Covered in soft coral it is one of our favourite wrecks to look at and photograph and in a word ‘Pretty’. Not far out from Bunbury, it’s easy to get to, just be mindful of the time of year you dive and the sea conditions as the visibility can drop in winter. Octopus Garden is the best operator to dive the Lena. You can now book your PADI Open Water Course on the Lena or a dive on the Lena with us!
Don’t forget to ask about the unique history of the Lena on your trip!
Asho’s Gap, Coral Bay
An amazing dive site for a number of reasons. Not only for its untouched coral reef but also a massive brain coral which attracts an unusual attraction of a shark cleaning station. Small cleaner wrasse hang out here and the grey reef sharks come and take it in turns to have their teeth cleaned. Not many places in the world where you can come and see this type of behavior. Just as good to snorkel as it is to dive. Charter companies from Coral Bay will take you there otherwise it’s a bit of a paddle from the beach…if you know where you’re going.
HMAS Perth, Albany
If you can handle the cooler dives and happen to be around Albany this is another great wreck worth seeing. Scuttled in 2001 it is 133m long, lies at 36m and plenty of places to have a look inside. It’s been perfectly cut out for divers to penetrate and so it’s a fun dive to explore. You can find wobbegongs, batfish, western blue devils, kingfish, blenny and large schools of yellow tails. For Divers used to Perth waters a 5mil wetsuit with a thermal top and hood is usually comfortable for two dives, if you feel the cold more than most, consider layering up for this dive.
Key Biscayne, Lancelin
The final of our top 8 dives for your Bucket List is an oil rig that was on its way from being towed by supporting vessels from Darwin to Fremantle they came across problems and now it lays in 42m of deep blue water. An amazing wreck of metal and scraps, it is not yet to be explored by Bucket List Diver crew, but it’s on the Bucket List. Want to come and discover any of these fantastic dive sites with us? We can help to arrange trips and get you diving in WA’s best dive spots.