In the cooler month of September, we snorkelled Parker Point, Rottnest Island / Wadjemup.
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About Rottnest Island / Wadjemup
Rottnest Island / Wadjemup is located off the coast of Western Australia, west of Fremantle. It is famous for its quokkas (small macropods [marsupial] the size of a domestic cat) – which were mistakenly referred to as rats by a Dutch explorer in the late 17th century, who called the island t Eylandt ‘t Rottenest or Rats’ Nest Island hence ‘Rottnest Island’.
British colonists used the island for agriculture but also from 1838 to 1931 as a prison and forced labour camp for approximately 3,600 Aboriginal people.
The island is approximately 19 square kilometres of gorgeous white sandy beaches and pristine turquoise waters. It is a protected nature reserve (Class A) that boasts an abundance of unique flora and fauna – the quokka, of course, but also the abundant marine life as well. It is car free ( you have to either get around by bus or bicycle).
Here’s a map of the island, as you can see there’s plenty of places to snorkel including a snorkel trail at Little Salmon Bay. There are 13 shipwreck sites, sea grasses, kelp forests and approximately 20 species of coral and 400 fish species to find. On the western end of the island, it is home to a colony of long-nosed fur seals.
Getting there
To get to Rottnest / Wadjemup, board a ferry from either Perth, Fremantle or Hillary. The trip takes about 40 minutes.
Take a bicycle on the ferry or hire one (or an ebike) there. Otherwise, take the bus to get to one of the many bays around the island. The buses on the island stop at each stop every half hour. It’s about an hour to circumnavigate the island by bus (about 16 stops) and it costs $25 per person for the day.
Once we were on the island, we didn’t realise how limiting the bus travel would be and sadly only managed to snorkel one bay before we had to get back on the bus (the bus only goes one way) to circumnavigate the island to then get back on the ferry to get home.
Here’s a tip: if you’re going to make it a day trip (like us) make sure you book on the first ferry there and the last ferry home. Choose your snorkelling spots before you get there (do some research on the web) and make a bee line for them on the bus. If you plan well, you’ll probably get three snorkels in at different bays. Otherwise you could consider staying on the island (which is pretty expensive).
It would be well worth staying for three days on the mainland and tripping over each day. Also, there are snorkelling tours if you would like a snorkelling guide.
Snorkelling at Parker Point, Rottnest Island / Wadjemup
Our intention was to snorkel three spots: Henrietta, Parker Point and Little Salmon Bay in the morning and then go to the other side of the island (westerly side) and snorkel Little Armstrong and Parakeet Bay.
We were delusional.
We only managed to snorkel Parker Point 😞 however it was worth it!
Photo: Coastline near Parker Point, Rottnest Island / Wadjempu by Pedro Szekely, via Wikimedia Commons
The conditions
We visited in September and checked the water temperature on a local website, which forecast 18.5 degree celsius. It felt a lot colder. The outside temperature was around 20 degrees celsius, despite a 25 degree forecast, and overcast. The wind was a mild easterly and the tide was going out.
The reef, fish and coral
The bus dropped us off at Parker Point (stop number 5), the eastern side of the island. We walked down the wooden stairs, past a quokka chewing on some grass nearby, to the white soft sandy beach below. There were plenty of spots to stash our gear safely.
Walking off the beach, we tried to navigate around the sea grasses without walking on them, which was difficult with the outgoing tide.
The water was crystal clear and a joy for us to see for many metres. We swam approximately 50 metres or more to the deeper dropoff, housing a reef structure of small caverns and glorious kelp and seaweed. We snorkelled over mounds of weed, then flat areas of pristine white sand where we interrupted schools of large fish along with multitudes of little crabs.
The reef is comprised of limestone offering a wonderful base for masses of seagrass and kelp and coral species and the multitudes of tropical fish that reside there. But on the day we saw lovely pink outcrops of coral but mostly we were awe struck by the beautiful kelp and seaweed of many colours – yellow, pink, grey and green, some bright orange and some brown, some at least three metres high growing to the surface, clustered together forming forests.
Eventually the swell surged us over the grasses towards the outer reef but it was the cold that eventually made us go back to the beach.
Here’s a video we put together.
Snorkelling over the glorious meadows of Posidonia australis.
Would we return?
For sure. Now that we have a better idea of how the island operates, and the time limits, we would plan our trip differently. As mentioned above, if we were to visit again we would either stay on the island or most probably stay in Fremantle for three days, take the ferry each day and snorkel at least two to three bays a day.
Our recommendation
Snorkelling Parker Point, Rottnest Island / Wadjemup was a wonderful experience. We just loved the crystal pristine waters, the kelp and sea grasses and the big fish nosing their way along the sea bed. We didn’t like the tourist nature of the island – but that’s just us – but we’d definitely go back to explore some of the other bays.
Our recommendation is based on a comparison with other sites we’ve visited, the abundance of corals and fish life as well as environmental factors such as damage to corals by tourists. Our recommendation can be up to five snorkels.
We’d give this snorkel 5 out of 5!
