Western Australia is home to many excellent dive locations, including the famous Ningaloo Reef and Shark Bay. However, there are plenty of lesser-known (but no less specta-cular) dive sites closer to the capital city of Perth, the entry point to the state. The diving here is characterised by wreck trails with superb artificial reefs, as well as the chance to spot marine mammals like sea lions. Perth is diveable almost year round, as the Leeuwin Current brings warm water and marine life from the tropics down south. The best diving condi-tions are in November and April-May, while diving is at its peak in crayfish season (November). There are plenty of choices for dive
UNDERWATER PHOTOS BY Tourism Western Australia
ROTTNEST Just off the coast of Perth is Rottnest Island, famed for its white-sand beaches surrounded by turquoise waters that is home to coral reefs and shipwrecks. Known today simply as 'Rotto', this ancestral homeland of the local Noongar people was christened by the Dutch in 1610 as 'Rat's Nest', in honour of the island's large resident population of Quokka (a now rare nocturnal marsupial closely related to the kangaroo), which were originally mistaken for large rats. There are at least 13 major wrecks dotted around Rottnest, the oldest of which the Transit, dates from 1842, all the way up to the surprisingly recent Kiryo Maru 1, a Japanese fishing boat that sank during a winter storm in 1984. Other dive sites include Cigar Reef, Jackson Rocks, Shark Reef, The West
End, Crystal Palace and Lady Elizabeth Wreck. Cigar Reef is an advanced site (max depth 28m) and is known for crayfish. Jackson Rocks is an area of extensive limestone reefs and caves, many of which are swim throughs that are ideal in most conditions. Shark Reef is named for the presence of Grey Nurse Sharks that congregate at the bottom (20m) of a network of caves between December and January. The West End is the Rotto's most challenging (but rewarding) site, as it runs very deep and has powerful currents, thanks to the powerful swells. Divers regularly see everything from whales to sharks, to turtles and rays. The Crystal Palace is a wall dive (5-18m) that runs for 200m along the island's south coast and holds many small caves that shelter a large fish and eels. The historic
Just a 40-minute drive south of Perth is Rockingham, home to several good dive sites including Rockingham Jetty, Cape Peron and Shoalwater Marine Park. Rockingham Jetty makes for a good easy dive site; there is a small artificial reef that is 18m deep around the collapsed section of the jetty. Marine life here include sea horses, stingarees, pipefish, nudibranchs, sea stars, anemones, scorpionfish, sea cucumbers and coralfish. The waters surrounding Cape Peron's limestone headland are dotted with reefs which are home to a diversity of marine life, including a mix of plant and animal species from 2 vast marine zones – the temperate south and tropical north. This makes it a great shore dive and snorkeling site in Perth. The 60m circuit of the Cape Peron Snorkel Trail is a great way to experience the marine park; a series of plinths on the sea floor mounted with interpretive signs guide you to a complex and diverse reef community that is just under 2-3m of water.
Much of Rockingham's underwater environment is protected as the Shoalwater Marine Park, including the waters of Shoalwater Bay, Warnbro Sound and part of Cockburn Sound. The 6,545 hectare park surrounds a chain of unique limestone islands that encompass a diverse marine environment as well as terrestrial ecology. The marine park's underwater environment include cavernous reefs, seagrass meadows and plentiful shipwrecks. The reef areas support a variety of temperate and subtropical invertebrates like sea stars, urchins and molluscs, and a number of fish species. The extensive sea grass floor stabilises the sandy floor, and is important to the life cycle of the many fish species here, providing a nursery habitat for juvenile fish. Bottlenose dolphins are common here, while Australian Sea lions (that live on Seal Island) and penguins also call this chain of
METTAMS POOL Just 15 minutes drive from the centre of Perth is Mettams Pool, located along a popular cycle track connecting Sorrento Beach and Trigg Island. It is known as a calm snorkelling bay that is ideal for beginners, as its sheltered reef pool is less than 2m deep. It is also a popular place for families during the
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