Exmouth Diving Centre & Dive Site Review
Exmouth Diving Centre has been operating for many years and is Exmouth's original dive centre. Dave and Kristin, owners & operators, live, dive and work here all year round and the staff are all long-term Exmouth residents with a passion for the Ningaloo Reef and North West Cape.
Exmouth Dive is the Ningaloo's only PADI 5 Star Instructor Development (IDC) Centre, offering a complete diver training service: from Open Water to World Exclusive Whale Shark & Manta Ray Specialties to professional level Dive Master & Instructor Training. We offer the best range of dive sites and marine animal interaction tours possible all year round and have sites suitable for all level of divers.
Our long-term commitment to the Ningaloo Reef allows us to know where to find the very best diving and to have the most reliable and exciting interactions with the myriad of creatures that call this area home. Have special interests? Just let us know and we can help with all of your diving holiday needs!
We are open 7 days a week for sales and service, dive tours, equipment hire, air fills and PADI Diving Courses.
Exmouth Diving Centre operates several fully surveyed dive boats, giving us access to a great range of dive sites around the North West Cape. Our boats are comfortable, speedy and equipped with all of the necessary safety and first aid gear (and knowledgeable, experienced crew!)
We have dive sites to suit both beginners and more advanced divers. To maintain our high standard of safety and to ensure that everyone has an enjoyable dive, all our dives are escorted by our professional staff.
Diving on The Ningaloo Reef with the Exmouth Diving Centre
Mention Ningaloo Reef and automatically people think of diving with the awesome Whale Sharks. These massive creatures congregate in large numbers off Ningaloo Reef, the world's largest fringing reef and Australia's second largest marine park encompassing over 5,000 square kilometres of ocean. Ningaloo Reef has become synonymous with the phrase "home of the Gentle Giant", but it has a lot more to offer the adventurous diver than experiencing the mighty Whale Sharks.
Approximately 1,270 km north of Perth, WA, Exmouth Diving Centre provides the opportunity for diving adventure with a great selection of fascinating dive locations. Below is a sample of some of our great dive areas - please note that we will choose the very best sites for our daily tours based on the conditions each day and this list is simply an overview...it is by no means comprehensive!
Dive Sites
Sponge Gardens & Exmouth Gulf
At the entrance to the Exmouth Gulf, east of the Navy Pier, the Sponge Garden Drift dive is a must do for the experienced diver. A majestic drift over a diverse collection of large sponges, gorgonians, and sea whips is an excellent way to experience the sea bed devoid of rock structures and coral bombies. The enormity and colours of the sponges and corals in this garden are impressive in their elegance.
Less experienced divers can enjoy this dive with one of our instructors by taking the PADI Advanced Course or the Deep & Drift Adventure dives with us - ask for more complete details!
Bundegi Sanctuary & the Gulf
With over 220 different species of coral and no less than 500 species of fish to be found on the Ningaloo Reef, the Bundegi Bombies provide the diver with the opportunity to explore the splendour of this reef sanctuary. Bundegi provides protection for a wide variety of species who use this area as a nursery so expect to see everything from big to little here! This is a shallow dive that can be explored by snorkel or scuba. With the incoming or outgoing tides one can meander along the reef at a leisurely pace; at slack tide you can dedicate yourself to one area - you'll never run out of things to see. The natural light of this dive allows the opportunity for excellent amateur and professional photography.
Nor-West Reef
Nor West Reef can only safely be dived when the tides, swell and sea conditions are right so it isn't often we get out there! A reef whose ruggedness has brought grief to a number of our early mariners, Nor-West Reef lies about 1.3nm off the Cape. The eastern edge of the reef provides a dive complete with the complexities of ledges, overhangs, coral bombies, gullies and small caves. It provides shelter for large tawny nurse, and reef sharks. Turtles, manta rays, eagle rays and the occasional potato cod are often sighted on this dive. This site is usually reserved for experienced divers and those who have dived with us on other sites.
Lighthouse & VLF Bays
Nestled on the western side near the top of the Cape, Lighthouse Bay &
VLF Bay offer incredible diving all year round. There are many sites in this
area from ridges of limestone reefs supporting a wonderful range of large and
small creatures to excellent drift dives allowing you to cover a great area
of diverse ecosystems.
Turtles, batfish, anemones & clownfish, white tip reef sharks, large groper,
bull rays, moray eels, schools of snapper, threadfin pearl pearch, lion fish,
sea snakes, rankin cod, angelfish, nudibranchs, blue-spotted stingrays, wobbegongs
and octopus all call this area home. Dugongs, dolphins, manta rays, leopard
sharks and other big guys add an extra dimension of excitement on many dives.
The dive sites in these two areas always have an outstanding variety and number
of fish and creatures - you can never dive here enough!
Muiron Islands
Surrounded by an abundance of coral gardens, rocky ledges and intriguing dive sites, the Muiron Islands are located about 10nm north east of Exmouth. Keep your eyes open during the 45 minute trip across to the Islands for ospreys, shearwaters, turtles, manta rays, dolphins, dugongs, and during their migration, humpback whales.
Once to the Islands there is a wide range of sites. With a maximum depth of 20m and usually only gentle currents, the dive sites around the Muiron Islands are suitable for all levels of divers. Swim-throughs and ledges provide plenty of places to search for shrimps, nudibranchs, eels, juvenile angelfish and other timid creatures. In mid-water and against the reefs look for friendly potato cod, large rankin cod, turtles, nurse sharks, soft coral gardens, anemones, clams and 1000's of darting, colourful reef fish. Late in the year, manta rays grace several of our dive sites, too.
From about November, the turtles head for the shallows at the Islands to mate
and nest. On your trip with us we spend our lunch break at the beach where you
can watch the turtles in the water, see their tracks in the sand and enjoy a
fabulous drift snorkel over lively corals. In mating season it is possible to
see the mating turtles in the water, too. Your crew on the day will give you
tips on how to watch without disturbing them.
The West Coast & Mandu Wall
Ningaloo Reef extends for 260km along the coast of Western Australia. Being the nearest point on the continent to the Continental Shelf accounts for the abundance and variety of fish and other marine life in the surrounding waters. There are many dive sites on the west coast of the Cape to explore and we are constantly finding new ones.
The diving here ranges from shallow to 35m and the reef structures are all hard coral. The marine life is abundant and diverse with each area seemingly specialising in something! Some sites are covered in moray eels of all sizes; others are known for the friendly potato cod that come up and say howdy. Several areas have active manta cleaning stations - the best time for mantas on these sites is from late May through August. 220 species of corals, plentiful schools of pelagics, abundant colourful Angel, Butterfly and Parrot fishes, numerous turtles, masses of bait fish, yellow and silver flutemouths...it's all here!
