Around Exmouth you can dive and snorkel Ningaloo reef, fish, enjoy endless pristine beaches and hike in Cape Range National Park. Exmouth is a small town of about 2,000 people tripling its population during the high season. It is located 1,270km north of Perth on the coast of Western Australia.   We dove Exmouth Navy Pier considered to be one of the best shore dives in the world and among top 10 Australia dive sites. We snorkeled along Ningaloo reef at Turcuoise Bay and Oyster stacks, walked along and picnicked on perfect white sand beaches, and drove around and hiked for stunning views in Cape Range Natural park.

Logistics

Our trip to Exmouth was a part of a longer West Coast trip camping near Coral Bay as a base. We drove up to Exmouth and spent two nights there staying at Ningaloo Lodge. On the first day after arriving around noon time to Exmouth we went to Cape Range Park which has an impressive terrain of cliffs sloping into ocean with many beautiful beaches all along the shore of the park. We  hiked around Yardi Creek which flows through a strikingly red canyon.

Next day we went for our Navy Pier dive with Dive Ningaloo.  Exmouth Navy Pier is a functioning Navy Pier and only one company is licensed to run the dives. The pier has been closed to public access  for more than 50 years and has lots of marine life as a result. We did two dives of about 50 minutes each – very precisely timed for slack tide as currents can be very strong and saw big schools of fish, sharks and huge cods.

On our last day in Exmouth we went back to Cape Range park to snorkel at Turquoise bay and Oyster stacks and picnic on the beach. It is a stunningly beautiful place and Exmouth is an excellent base to explore Ningaloo coast.  There are several nice restaurants, two supermarkets, several hotels and self-catering rentals, and good roads making it possible to get around without four wheel drive.