What would you think if I suggested diving out of Exmouth during January? A bit bonkers, glutton for punishment, asking for trouble? How about if I told you the temperature would be 46°C and you’d see turtles, coral and maybe a Whale Shark?
If I was talking about Exmouth, Devon then you’d be correct in thinking I was going round the bend but I’m not; I’m talking about Exmouth in Western Australia (WA), and the conditions couldn’t be more different.
So, what do you need to know about Exmouth WA? The Shire of Exmouth is an area of 6,261 square kilometres situated 1,270 kilometres north of Perth. It has a resident population of around 2,400 which swells to 6,000 during high season. It is also home to the Ningaloo Marine Park which starts to explain it’s attraction to divers.
At 300 kilometres long Ningaloo reef is the largest fringing reef in the world and the only large reef found so close to a continental land mass, at its closest the reef is only 100m from shore and at it’s furthest, 7 km.
I arrived in Exmouth during January knowing full well that I wouldn’t be chasing any Whale sharks. The shark season is between April and July, just after the corals have spawned but the diving is good all year round.
I caught the Greyhound coach service from Perth and after 18 hours on board I was ready to give my legs a stretch (I exaggerate, you do get breaks on the way). I got dropped off at the Tourist bureau (closed) and after a quick consultation of my trusty Rough Guide, set off with my rucksack in the direction of what I hoped would be my hostel. With the temperature in the mid 40’s I was glad that I only had a 15 minute walk, and this went even faster after I was given the evil eye by a couple of free roaming Emus.
Thankfully, I was soon settled into my air-conditioned dorm, and after a brief nap to cool down, I set off for Exmouth Diving Centre with dive logs in hand ready to check in. The dive centre staff were really nice and only mildly disappointed that they couldn’t sell me any PADI specialty courses. The two minute walk back to the dorm had exhausted me again so after another brief nap I was ready for an evening of socialising with my roomies. I was quite lucky to be sharing with a couple of other divers, Martina from Melbourne (whose marvelous photos I’ve used in this article, more about that later), and Clare from the UK who was doing her PADI Open Water.
By morning I was very excited and itching to get in the water. After sorting out kit and the dive centre we boarded a mini bus and travelled a few clicks North to find the dive boat jetty. This is where some team work came into play as we all had to chip in the lug the tanks and kit bags down the jetty to where the boat was waiting, thankfully it was too early for the flies but it was still hot! Once on board we all settled in, got our brief and the boat set of for the Muiron Islands, our location for the day’ diving.
And it’s here that things went a bit awry. During my first dive I’d agreed to lead another PADI Advanced diver from the UK (Louise) instead of following around the DM who already had a tribe load in tow. This seemed like a good idea at the time but once in the water I became so preoccupied with making sure she was OK, that we attained the right depth, that we were going in the right direction that I didn’t enjoy the dive at all, and neither did she. Once we got back on board we had a brief ‘discussion’ and decided that we would make use of the DM’s for the next dive. The second dive was a lot more relaxing but the day had already been tainted for me and to be honest, I didn’t find the underwater scenery all that impressive; the corals weren’t as rich or dense as I had expected and there didn’t appear to be as much fish life as the Red Sea.
Days two and three were much better, we were diving on the reef proper and my buddy and I had managed to hook up with a digital photography course that was being run. This was ideal as we both had our cameras and could spend as long as we liked taking pictures and generally lurking around the reef without any pressure to rush around. It was great fun, only spoilt by the fact that my batteries only seemed to be lasting 10 minutes and Louise’s casing flooded (hence I’m using Martina’s pictures as I didn’t get to take very many). We stuck with the course though as we were seeing some great creatures including Catfish, Potato Cod, Wobbegong (a type of carpet shark), beautiful Nudibranchs, and finally, a turtle! We also managed to fit in a fantastic drift dive in a location called the Sponge Gardens, which at a speed of 1-2 knots with 10+m viz was pretty exhilarating.
Unfortunately this was the last of my diving in Exmouth as I’d come to the end of my diving budget. After a final evening in the local bar with my roomies and some of the other divers, Clare and I stumbled drunkenly down the pitch black main road (via the sports oval) to pick up the Greyhound back to Perth.
I really enjoyed my few days in Exmouth and given the time and money, would love to travel to some of the other resorts that dive on Ningaloo reef.
