Ningaloo Reef kayaking tours: Can I kayak off the North West Cape Peninsula?

The Exmouth Adventure Company offers a series of Ningaloo Reef kayaking tours. These include snorkelling on the reef, off the North West Cape Peninsula in Western Australia.

The Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia is best known for its humpback whale and whale shark swimming tours, plus scenic flights. But that doesn’t mean you should only bother coming during whale shark season.

Along the North West Cape near Exmouth are a series of exceptional beaches, many of which are just 100 metres from the reef. One of these is Osprey Bay, where the Exmouth Adventure Company kicks off its Ningaloo Reef kayaking tours.

Swimming out from the beach is a perfectly valid way of exploring the Ningaloo Reef, but going by kayak allows you to get there quicker and cover more ground.

kayak on beach on Ningaloo Reef kayaking tour — Ningaloo Reef kayaking tours are an excellent way to explore more of the reef system. Photo by David Whitley/ Australia Travel Questions

What to see on a Ningaloo Reef kayaking tour

The tour kicks off with paddling out and tethering kayaks to a specially-sited mooring buoy. It’s inside a sanctuary zone, where no fishing is allowed, and it shows. Around a coral bombie, dozens of snapper flit around, while brilliant blue starfish cling to the rocks like discarded velvet gloves. Emperors, angelfish and clownfish show their faces, the variety and the interactions between all parts of the underwater eco-system making it utterly absorbing to take in. Small silvery fish that would be unexceptional on their own become a spectacle when in huge schools and interspersed by weird flute-nosed compadres.

A tail emerges from under the bombie, quickly becoming a full reef shark. Then another one comes to join it. They circle around warily, just checking that the snorkellers are not a threat. Nearby, a manta ray’s eyes peer up from its sand-covered body. Puffs of sand coming from underneath it show that it’s breathing.

After clambering back into the kayaks, it’s time to get into a rhythm paddling along the coast. The target is Sandy Bay, another swoonily curving expanse of uncombed white sand. But it’s what’s on the way rather than the destination that matters.

Kayaking with turtles on the Ningaloo Reef

In the water, what look initially to be small patches of coral dart away as the kayak approaches. They’re turtles, and they’ve not yet learned that kayaks aren’t fierce predators. Closer to the shore, shovel-nosed rays (head of a ray, tail of a shark, unwelcome characteristics of neither) glide through the shallows.

The kayaks weave through huge schools of parrot fish, zooming in all directions to get out of the paddle’s way. And on top of the dunes, there’s a marvellous slice of stereotypical Australiana as small kangaroos skip off towards the rocks where they like to hang out.

The tour then pulls up on the beach for morning tea. The kayakers are the only ones there, apart from some silvery, ghostly crabs which scuttle like apparitions in a rush.

The Exmouth Adventure Company operates a range of Ningaloo Reef kayaking tours, with the basic half day option costing $120. The tours include pick ups from accommodation in Exmouth, a twelve-and-a-half hour drive north of Perth. Or, if you prefer, a two hour flight from Perth.