Lighthouse Bay
Depth is the range from the top of the site to its usual maximum; "recommended cert" is the mainstream-agency level operators usually ask for, not a legal rule. Currents and visibility change daily, so treat everything here as planning ranges.
Lighthouse Bay collects Exmouth's everyday boat diving under one name: a spread of bommie fields and low ridges below the cape's lighthouse, with sites like the Labyrinth and Blizzard Ridge divided among maze-like limestone lanes and fish-stacked coral stacks. Nudibranch hunting is dependable, turtles and whitetips are near-certain, big cod hole up under ledges, and in season mantas and even humpbacks pass through the same water column the dive briefing covered five minutes earlier. It is unglamorous, consistent, close to town, and the sort of diving that fills the days between whale-shark trips without feeling like filler.
The moment you come for: Bommie mazes and ridges, reliable turtles and macro, seasonal megafauna flybys
Topography: Limestone bommie fields and coral ridges on sand inside the cape's northwestern corner
Entry: Short boat runs from Exmouth's Tantabiddi and Bundegi ramps; operators pick among named sites in the bay on the day.
Know before you splash
Hazards: Swell over shallow ridges on big days; standard boat-diving cautions otherwise.
Who you'll meet
Nudibranchs
Green Sea Turtle
Whitetip Reef Shark
Reef Manta Ray
Scalloped Hammerhead
Humpback Whale
Common Reef (Day) Octopus
Whale Shark
Also recorded nearby
"Charted here" species were listed by our editors from the sources on this page. Counts are GBIF occurrence records: observations logged within about 5 km of the charted position since 1990, matched only against the species in our catalogue. They show what has been seen there, not a promise of what you will see.
For photographers
Wide angle: ★★★☆☆ · Macro: ★★★★☆ (editors' 1–5 rating of what this site gives each style of shooting)