Bunker Bay - Shelley Beach

Meet the site

Bunker Bay sits on the northern tip of Cape Naturaliste, where Geographe Bay meets the Indian Ocean. Marinelife.org.au describes a dive and snorkel from Shelley Beach to a small rock about 60 m offshore, with reef on its seaward side in about 5 m, and good snorkelling and diving along the shore toward West Point. It lists stingrays, bream, sweep, moonlighters, stripeys, coralfish, red-lipped morwong and prettyfish, a notable mix that reflects the warm Leeuwin Current reaching the cape. Meelup Park notes Bunker Bay's white sand and summer swimming.

The granite reef here supports sponges, weed and some corals, and the diversity of small reef fish is good for such a shallow site. The short swim makes it accessible to snorkellers and shore divers of all levels in calm conditions, while the shoreline toward West Point gives longer dives.

Bunker Bay is also within the Ngari Capes Marine Park, which has a Cape Naturaliste sanctuary zone nearby - check current zoning maps before fishing or collecting.

Geographe Bay faces north, so Cape Naturaliste blocks most of the prevailing south-westerly swell and sea breeze that close the ocean coast; that shelter and the warm Leeuwin Current make the Dunsborough shoreline one of the most reliably diveable stretches of the South West, and winter north-westerly storms are the main thing that shuts it down.

What you might see

Stingrays, bream, sweep, moonlighters, stripeys, coralfish, red-lipped morwong, prettyfish, western king wrasse, sponges

Location

Small rock about 60 m off Shelley Beach at Bunker Bay on the northern tip of Cape Naturaliste, with reef on its seaward side in about 5 m, and good snorkelling along the shore toward West Point.

Facilities nearby

Car parks at Bunker Bay; cafe at the Bunker Bay resort; toilets.