I was excited to visit Shark Bay for some underwater photography as over the past few years of working in the dive industry I have heard quite a bit about diving there. It therefore came as a surprise to me that there is only one dive shop operating in the area and they are relatively new.
Shark Bay Dive and Marine Safaris is run by an English couple Emma and John. They were extremely helpful with organizing our trip and provided two great days of diving.
There was two sites which we visited purple rain and Steep point:
Purple Rain
This site got its name because of two reasons: it was first discovered by the dive school on the same day that Price died and it is covered in many purple soft tree corals.
The visibility was not the best on either day that we dived this site although we did see a variety of resident marine life. A school of large Queensland Groupers, Cuttlefish, Sea Snakes, Lion Fish, Moray Eels, and a couple of nice swim-throughs.
Steep Point
Steep point is the most westerly point of Australia and is a famous fishing location. The fishing is done from the top of the 200 meter high cliffs. Balloons are often used to help direct the fishing lines out to sea.
We were told that it is possible to see almost anything at this dive site because of its unique location.
On out first dive we did a drift due to the current. The captain took us right to the end of the point where the sea was a rather rough resulting in the little boat bouncing up and down a lot. After an interesting giant stride we descending through surgey, murky water. As soon as we reached the bottom the water started to clear and almost immediately we saw a marble ray.
The strong current whipped us past many rocks covered in old fishing lines and hooks before we finished the dive at a small cave filled with crayfish. This was defiantly an exciting dive and I couldn’t wait to dive it again the next day.
The next day the currents were not so strong so we moored up at the end point of the dive site. Shortly after the start of the dive I saw something large swimming over the sand in the distance. I swam out away from the group a bit to investigate. Soon I saw a school of cowtail rays swimming towards me. I turned to see the instructor john was following.
This was just the beginning, we later saw a Lemon Shark, two Marble rays and a giant grouper. I was the last one out of the water as I didn’t want to say goodbye to this amazing dive site.
Should you go Diving in Shark Bay?
The answer is a definite yes. These dive sites are suitable for all levels of diver, the quality of marine life surprised me, and the service from Shark Bay Dive and Marine Safaris was incredible.
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