WA's marine life is making an almighty splash this spring!

Whale watching

Spring has well and truly sprung in Western Australia with a myriad of marine life making an almighty splash along the coast.

The annual whale migration along WA's coastline is the largest in the world, with tens of thousands of humpbacks, as well as southern right and even rare blue whales making their way up and down the WA coastline between May and December. Whales head south during spring and can be sighted in Perth and Geographe Bay between September and December. Humpback whales can grow up 18 metres long and are considered the most acrobatic of the species, often putting on a show of breaching, tail slapping and spy-hopping to the delight of spectators viewing them from coastal vantage points or aboard whale watching charters.

Dolphins can be sighted along the entire 12,500-kilometre length of WA's coastline all year round, however, as the weather warms up in the southern part of the State, you can get in the water and swim alongside them in Rockingham or Bunbury.

Spring also heralds the start of ferry rides across Shoalwater Bay to Penguin Island, where visitors can see a wealth of marine creatures and wildlife, including WA's largest colony of fairy penguins, dolphins, sea lions, stingrays, pelicans, king's skinks and sea birds.

Swimming with dolphins

Further south, Woody Island in the Recherche Archipelago off the coast of Esperance is also a great place to spot fairy penguins. Islands and waters of the archipelago are also home to dolphins, white-breasted sea eagles, Australian sea lions, Cape Barren geese, cormorants, whales and New Zealand fur seals.

North of Perth, the Coral Coast and North West also offer excellent opportunities to get up close to marine life during spring. See sea lions in the Jurien Bay Marine Park and at the Abrolhos Islands, dolphins, rays and dugongs in the Shark Bay Marine Park, swim with massive manta rays in Coral Bay.

As spring comes to an end, green, loggerhead and hawksbill turtles begin nesting at beaches in Shark Bay and Ningaloo Marine Parks and further north along the Pilbara coast in the North West. Tiny turtle hatchlings will venture from their nests in late summer.

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