Rottnest Island, W.A.

TLWR? (Too long, won’t read?) Watch the video of our Rottnest scuba dive instead!

👩‍🦰 I’m going to throw out an unpopular opinion here - Western Australians are spoiled! As someone from the East Coast that moved to Western Australia as an adult with no friendship group, I was always on the lookout for things to see and do when I was new to WA, and there is a lot! If I had a dollar for every time that I’ve heard a local say “there’s nothing to do” or “Perth is boring”, I’d be like 🤑🤑💰💰

Anyway, one gem that is oft neglected by locals (one of my friends has lived here for a decade and still not visited!) is Rottnest Island.

WHERE IS ROTTNEST ISLAND?

This glorious paradise is a 30 min trip from Fremantle (or 2 hrs 15 mins from Perth via Fremantle) by the Rottnest Express ferry.

WHY IS ROTTNEST ISLAND POPULAR?

Known for its quokkas, the 10,000 or so smiley-faced furry inhabitants of the island, Rottnest really has something for everyone. It’s got 63 stunning white-sand beaches bordering the 19km² protected nature reserve, 45kms worth of walking trails, the most adorable seals that live in the area and wonderful weather much of the year round. But one of the best features of Rottnest is found beneath the surface.

SCUBA DIVING ROTTNEST ISLAND

The waters surrounding Rottnest are full of deep crevices, caverns and huge swim-throughs thanks to the soft, porous limestone rock base of the island and the open Indian Ocean currents. Teaming with beautiful coral and amazing wildlife makes it so much fun to explore while scuba diving! So that’s exactly what we did.

I’m still a very new and inexperienced diver, having only gotten my ticket in March this year and to date only having done 10 dives. So rather than head out on the boat with just myself and Aaron (who can be very cavalier when it comes to rules and such, with his ‘she’ll be right’ attitude!), I wanted to get a few more guided tours under my belt to feel more confident in the water before going it ‘alone’.

SCUBA DIVING CHARTERS - ROTTNEST ISLAND

I checked out all of the local diving charters online and found Perth Ocean Diving to be the only one with availability for the dates that we wanted, although it wasn’t the cheapest of the bunch. The price included all of your gear hire (although I was keen to use my own newly bought gear!) as well as the boat trip and lunch.

It was a bit of a slow start getting everything and everyone loaded onto the Blue Destiny, a 25 metre luxury boat perfectly equipped for diving, but it took about an hour after the meeting time before we were on our way. It was a beautifully smooth ride over - we had really gotten lucky with the weather, it was a steamy 31 degrees Celsius day with practically no wind!

SCUBA DIVING SWIRL REEF

The first dive was at Swirl Reef and had some nice fish, it a was really pretty spot! 🐟 I still get nervous at the start of the dive but once I’m in the water, that all tends to fade away. Unfortunately, Aaron had a bad start to the dive - we had to resurface because his mask kept filling with water and the rest of the group went on without us, not realising we hadn’t come through the cave mouth at the start of the dive.

I was already a bit panicky about diving through the cave at the start, as I’ve never been through a cave before! But after ripping off his hood, which was the cause of the issue, we went back under and he gave the ‘okay’ (see the photo below). We rushed to catch up to them, which was a good distraction from my nerves as there was no time to really think about it. Then later in the dive, Aaron’s oxygen tank came loose and two of us had to fix it underwater, so he didn’t have the smoothest dive! I said to him afterwards that I was glad it was him and not me though, I wouldn’t have been so calm haha!

ABOUT SWIRL REEF - ROTTNEST ISLAND

The reef itself is shaped almost like a crater and is called Swirl Reef because of the way that the water moves through it. It has lots of swim-throughs that are fun to navigate your way around. With depths down to 16m and - for our dive - a visibility of around 15m, there was a lot to see in this spot! Even in the shallow sections of 5m or so, there were loads of colourful coral and anemones to see, as well as plenty of fish swimming around. One of the downsides of being part of a large group was that some members of the group said that they saw wobbegong sharks, Port Jackson sharks and more - none of which we saw, presumably because they had already scared them off by the time we got there!

SCUBA DIVING ROE REEF

After some lunch (the crew put on a great spread!) and a break to settle our tummies, we went out for the second dive at Roe Reef. This dive was much less eventful for Aaron and even more beautiful than the last spot, with some seriously awesome caves to explore. It was very fun to navigate through, although I did get a little anxious with all the people swimming about. It was very crowded in some of the tighter spots, I even just rested on my knees on the ocean floor a couple of times waiting for all the people around me to clear out! 😅

ABOUT ROE REEF- ROTTNEST ISLAND

This area was a bit more shallow than the last dive site at around 14m depth, but there was an abundance of Insta-worthy spots, with schools of reef fish gliding across open caverns and creatures lurking beneath the surfaces of the ledges. Truly an amazing spot to dive, and a must if you’re a diver visiting Perth!

Scuba diving really does open you up to a whole new world and some truly magical sights and wildlife. There’s nothing quite comparable to gliding through the water feeling almost weightless and watching all manner of sea creatures swim by close enough to touch, some giving you a curious side eye as they dart past. It was absolutely perfect weather and - well, for me anyway haha! - the dives were perfect. What a day! 🌞