Sand Patch

Meet the site

Sand Patch is one of three west-side sites named on Dive Ningaloo's Westside page, with Nick's Lumps and Beverly Hills, on a tour where depths range from 8 to 24 m. As its name suggests, it centres on a sandy area surrounded by reef.

Sand patches in the outer reef are good places to find rays, resting sharks and garden eels, with the surrounding reef edges holding cod, coral trout and turtles. No further detail has been published.

About the west side: Ningaloo is a fringing reef, and the west side of North West Cape is where the reef faces the open ocean beyond the lagoon. Only a handful of boats dive it, launching from Tantabiddi, and much of it is rarely visited. Topography ranges from shallow cracked reef and ledges near Tantabiddi Passage to surge channels, bommies and walls further out, with 'caves, swim-throughs, huge bommies or walls, and a truly diverse range of hard and soft corals'. Whale sharks, mantas and humpback whales are seasonal visitors, and humpback song is commonly heard underwater in winter. The 2025 marine heatwave caused significant coral mortality in northern Ningaloo, so expect some dead or recovering coral. A typical west-side day combines two sites chosen by the skipper on the morning, with lunch on board inside the lagoon; because swell and wind decide everything, divers visiting Exmouth for a week should book early in their stay and keep a back-up day. The same boats often snorkel with whale sharks, mantas or humpbacks in season, so a west-side dive day can deliver megafauna on the way out or back.

What you might see

Rays, reef sharks, turtles, cod, coral trout

Location

West-side site on Dive Ningaloo's Westside itinerary, a sand patch within the outer reef.

Facilities nearby

Tantabiddi boat ramp: toilets, car and trailer parking; no shade or fuel. Air fills and hire in Exmouth.