Exmouth's aquarium without glass

That's right! this 'aquarium' comes without a barrier. And if you think that this is a clue that it is somewhere on the Great Barrier Reef, you are SO wrong. About 4000 kilometres wrong!

Exmouth's Navy Pier found on Western Australia's Coral Coast has recently been opened for diving following restoration works. The Navy Pier has a reputation as one of the top 10 shore dives worldwide, primarily due to its vast range of marine life. There are over 200 identified fish species under the pier and because it is a jetty dive, underwater navigation is easy, but as the pier is still a working US naval base, and to protect the amazing diversity of fish life, all dives must be guided.

Due to the area's large tidal range resulting in strong currents, the Exmouth Navy Pier can only be dived at a certain times, and tourists must have dived within the last six months. Night dives on the pier are equally amazing, but only offered to advanced divers.

Exmouth company, Dive Ningaloo, has been awarded the sole operating license for the Navy Pier dive. Co-owner Kristen Ross says “We are really excited about being able to dive this incredible site for the first time in over 18 months. Often described as being like an oasis in the ocean, restricted access and a ban on fishing has meant that jetty is teeming with marine life that gravitates to the structure for protection. The biodiversity for such a small area is incredible.”

Extending out from the shore, the T-shaped pier structure is covered in soft corals and divers could spend several days diving the site and not become bored. However they can also find Wobbegong sharks, large potato cod, lion, angler, stone and scorpion fish, moray eels, octopus, large schools of trevally and huge rays dozing in the sand. It is possible to see more individual fish and species here than most people would see in a lifetime of diving, making it also a photographer's dream with an abundance of sea life that is seemingly unafraid of divers.

NEED TO KNOW: Exmouth is 15 hours drive north of Perth (under two hours via QantasLink) and with daily flights and connecting morning flights from Sydney and Melbourne.

More information on the region.....

Have you dived in a place like this? Would you dive here?

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