Christmas Island · Australia · Reef
West White Beach
Anemones and clownfish in 15 m, with whale sharks passing through
Area photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0
A shallow coral dive at one of the island's hardest beaches to reach: four-wheel drive to get near it, then a difficult walk through dense rainforest with kit. The diving is the easy half, listed from the shore to 15 metres and graded beginner, with anemones and clownfish on the coral and whale sharks and dolphins passing through.
Where it is and how deep
10.4616° S, 105.5807° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The dive itself is the simple part. The coral starts shallow off the beach and the operator's range tops out at 15 metres, so this is a long, flat dive over hard coral with anemones and their clownfish through it. It works as well snorkelled as dived, which is how the operator pitches it, and it suits a group that is not all certified.
What lifts the site is the traffic. West White Beach is the site the operator lists whale sharks and dolphins against, and neither arrives to a schedule. The shallow profile helps: at 15 metres you can stay out over the coral for the length of a tank rather than turning the dive early, which is the right way to dive somewhere whose best moments come when they come. Getting there is the work, not the diving.
Marine life and season
- Whale sharks
- Dolphins
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Prime | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Christmas Island: October to December brings the clearest water; August and September bring upwellings and lower visibility; from November to April swell can roughen the north side.
Questions divers ask
How do you get to West White Beach?+
It is one of the island's more difficult beaches to reach: a four-wheel-drive vehicle to get near it, then a hard walk through dense rainforest carrying kit. Once in, the diving runs from the shore to 15 metres.
Can you snorkel at West White Beach?+
Yes. The operator rates it as a snorkel site as much as a dive site. The coral is shallow, the profile runs from the shore to 15 metres, and whale sharks and dolphins are what the site is known for.
Sources
- Dive Sites Christmas Island — Extra Divers Australia
- Christmas Island — Wikipedia
- West White Beach (OpenStreetMap) — OpenStreetMap
In The Logbook
- Where to dive with whale sharks, month by monthBig animals · 16 min read
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