If you’re in Coral Bay, WA, you can snorkel straight from Bill’s Beach. The sea life is beautiful and I would recommend it but the coral is quite bleached and it can be pretty busy.
However, I had the best snorkelling of my life (so far!) down at Five Fingers Reef. I highly recommend heading down there if you’re in Coral Bay. We don’t have a 4WD so walked there – we drove to the boat ramp and it was about a 40 minute walk from there. If you go directly from the town I reckon it would take around an hour. It’s a soft sandy track from the boat ramp so the second day we did this we totally ditched our shoes.
Apologies for the absolute lack of photos..
Time of day
We snorkelled at Five Fingers twice, both times in the morning. We headed out around 8am – in the water by 9am – to try and avoid walking back in the heat of the day. I would recommend taking plenty of water as there is limited shade on the walk back.
At that time we saw a huge variety of fish and stunning coral, plus turtles and reef sharks. There was only one car then when we arrived both days, and around 10 when we left each day. I can’t say exactly when the best time of day is but the morning treated us well. One person we spoke to went on the quad tour at sunset – I don’t believe they snorkelled – but they could see turtles from the cliffs at that time too.
It’s a sheltered spot but it’s rather isolated so I would absolutely not go without a buddy and make sure you’re both very competent in the water.
What to take
To make the most of it we did two or three snorkels of 20 to 30 minutes. I struggle with the cold so we had a flask of hot chocolate which was great to recharge in between sessions. Take some snacks too.
We were there in early May and swam in rashies and our normal goggles. Snorkel masks would be better but we don’t have those. We didn’t wear fins but other people were – we are decent swimmers and pretty fit and didn’t feel we needed them.
Where to go
Five Fingers is five ‘strips’ of rocks that go out from the beach almost perpendicular. We snorkelled around each of these, plus the bay on the side closest to Coral Bay. I’d recommend looking at each finger depending on conditions. Day two for us was quite seaweedy but once you got out past the little bit of chop it was lovely and clear.
The area is quite protected with the break far out (assuming there’s a big sandbank there).
Extra tip
I can’t vouch for this but a fellow traveller said he went up onto the dunes (on foot) between Coral Bay and Five Fingers. He started down the 4WD track then turned off – I think this might be Snapper Head but I’m unsure. Up there at sunset there were dolphins and some big rays too.
Final thoughts
As with all of the suggestions above, please be careful with conditions and weather. I’m sure the locals will be able to advise too. Enjoy and stay safe out there!