Mushroom Rock
Hamelin Bay
Directions - Located at the idyllic holiday location of Hamelin Bay, just north of Augusta, head towards Caves Road and keep driving south until you see the signs for Hamelin Bay. There are two car parks for the main beach but these will fill up quickly in the peak summer holiday period. Mushroom Rock is a 500m swim offshore from the boat ramp, just look for the smaller rock formation to the right of Peak Island (fourth picture in the below gallery).
The Snorkel - With summer holidays usually meaning a break from hiking and a focus on cycling and snorkelling, I scheduled in a week down south to tackle some more snorkelling spots I had been eyeing off since my visit last year. One destination that I've always been fond of and knew was a good spot thanks to the sheltered nature of the area was Hamelin Bay. Armed with an old copy of CALM's Dive & Snorkel Sites in Western Australia (3rd Edition), I flicked through the pages and found that Hamelin Bay had an offshore reef formation that sounded pretty cool.
Hamelin Bay is most famously known for the stingrays that come up to the shallows and it's one of those things that I've always wanted to experience. My previous two visits here were both on the Cape to Cape Track, one in 2014 and the other in 2020 but both times I wasn't fortunate enough to see the rays. With the location selected, I just needed a dive buddy given the long swim out to the reef so asked my brother-in-law Haydn if he was keen. He accepted my invitation and plans were made for the Thursday to drive the 1.5 hours from Funbury to Hamelin Bay. I had been monitoring the tides, winds and swell over the week to make sure the conditions were acceptable and this morning seemed to be the best time before the swells quickened and the wind started blowing harder. My big worry was that we would drive all that way and get terrible visibility but that's the risk you take with snorkeling sometimes. Speaking of the drive, it was devastating to drive along Caves Road after the terrible bushfires that affected the area around Contos and Boranup Forest. Thankfully Contos Campsite was saved but the Peppermint thickets closer to the coast on the Cape to Cape will take many years to recover.
Arriving before tourist o'clock, there were plenty of car parks available so we gathered our gear and walked down to the beach to check out the conditions. I was relieved to see flat water and it was a bit different seeing lots of people setup along the beach. It was peak summer holidays so I shouldn't have been surprised but both times I've been here it was dead quiet and the last visit was finishing a day with 60-80kmph winds plus sideways rain. With flippers on, we eyed off Mushroom Rock in the distance and set about tackling the swim out there. Putting my mask underwater, I was happy to see good visibility so breathed a sigh of relief. Searching the shallow reefs close to shore, I found a small ray hiding under a ledge along with some smaller fish darting about. Heading out to deeper waters, the second cool find of the morning was a giant ray doing a good job of trying to hide in the sand but couldn't quite cover itself fully. Diving down, I kept a bit of distance so I didn't spook it and it was nice to see one of the famous rays of Hamelin Bay so close. Continuing to swim out, I could see that we were close to the exposed part of Mushroom Rock but it was still nothing but sand and sea grass ahead of us.
Then it came into view. Rising from the sea floor was this massive structure that looked pretty cool and seemed like it would contain a bit of life. Excited to start exploring, I got closer to the formation and started looking around for something interesting to photograph. Spotting a few fish, they were hard to capture thanks to some shyness so I kept moving in an anti-clockwise direction around the 6m structure. Haydn was already on the other side checking out the narrow channel carved into the rock. As he was doing that I spotted a large Smooth Ray gliding over the reef and cascading down the side towards the sea grass. It was the first of many passes that this particular ray made while we were in the area and each one was pretty awe-inspiring. Sticking to the outside of the reef, I spotted a large school of smaller fish (perhaps Pomfrets?) and dived down to investigate a little closer. They seemed pretty content to let me get close but there was a certain point where they all scattered and hid under one of many ledges. Coming to the end of our first circle route of the rock, I was impressed with a large piece of coral that made me a bit hungry thanks to looking like a poppadum. Above water, we had a bit of a chat while we rested and agreed this was a fun spot to explore and that we should take at least one more loop around.
Wanting to explore some of the spots at the bottom of the formation, I took a few deep breaths and duck dived down to say hello to all the fish hiding underneath the ledges. They weren't too keen on me but it was fun being in a spot where I could dive a little deeper. Spotting the large school of fish again, it seemed to have grown bigger since the last visit so I said hello once again. Haydn in the meantime had decided to check out another reef structure to the north west so I followed him out there to see what was what. With some cool looking coral and a small pointy out bit, Haydn investigated further thinking it might be one of the many shipwrecks in this area. Heading back to the main reef, we had one more interaction with the giant Smooth Ray as it came out of the blue and scaled up the reef before turning back (see video at the bottom of the page). Capping off a great visit to this offshore reef structure, we decided to head back to shore and try and search for two shipwrecks that are a couple of hundred metres off the beach. After a bit of a search we came up empty so I'll have to return one day and have a proper go of it. Finishing off with a wander around the shallow reef close to shore, I was happy to spot some squid, something I had never seen snorkelling before. Having been in the water for over an hour and a half, we decided to call it a day and checked out the rays in the water near the old jetty ruins while we dried off. What a morning and definitely a spot I will be returning to as there are plenty of other spots I want to check out in the wide bay.
Final Thoughts - Hamelin Bay is one of those idyllic summer spots with a great beach, shallow waters and zero phone reception.
With plenty of space to setup on the beach and an expansive stretch of water to explore with the snorkel and flippers, you could easily spend a few days checking it all out.
Mushroom Rock is a great focal point for a dive and if you have the energy to get out there, it's well worth the effort. I could have spent a lot longer just circling the rock and diving down to all the ledges and caves.
While seeing the rays from the comfort of the beach is great, I was really happy to have seen them in their natural habitat out in the deeper waters. These gentle giants are amazing to watch as they glide around the place and you can see why they are a tourist drawcard.
If you're heading to Hamelin Bay for a summer holiday then make sure you pack the snorkeling gear as even just paddling around the shallows is pretty fun.
Get out there and experience it!
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