Diving Busselton Jetty, South West Australia

Busselton Jetty is the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere and was built over a 95-year period from 1865. The main sources of income for the area in its 19th century heyday were timber and whaling. For this purpose jetties were built at the quaintly named towns of Wonnerup, Busselton and Quindalup in Australia's south west. Only the Busselton Jetty remains.

The jetty stretches a remarkable two kilometers into Geographe Bay. Closed as a port in 1972, the 138-year-old jetty has since been ravaged by both fire and cyclone. Its repair, and its subsequent protection, are due to the efforts of the local community who are now pushing for the jetty to be given full protected area status because of its rich marine life.

Its rickety wooden planking and lethal nails has that real old world charm of the colonial antipodes and it it is added to by the bright red train that now takes tourists down to the end of the jetty. But its underwater view is the real spectacle.

Leeuwin Current Brings Rich Marine Life to Cooler Waters

Every year in autumn and winter, the Leeuwin Current brings with it a narrow band of warm water down the West Australian coastline. It's this warm southerly current that’s responsible for bringing the incredible and diverse variety of tropical and sub-tropical species into Geographe Bay. Coral grows here at a latitude of 33 degrees south making it the most southerly coral growth in the world.

There have been around 300 hundred marine species recorded here. Huge schools of yellow tail scads cascade around the wooden pilings. Tropical and subtropical species litter the timber forest of the jetty’s legs. Soft coral and gorgonians deeply encrust every piece of timber, while ascidians hang in clusters off the pilings and sponges carpet any spare surface available. It is the best of any living reef. Groups of old wives fish sit completely still, suspended between timber legs while perch and gurnards happily navigate around the reef. A diver would commonly encounter around a dozen types of nudibranchs.

Busselton Jetty Underwater Observatory

Swimming in past the pilings towards shore, you reach the only underwater observatory in the southern hemisphere. Opened in 2003, you can be watched and snapped by tourists as they see you as part of the underwater seascape. It’s perfect for the non-divers in your party. They too can appreciate the extraordinary spectacle that is Busselton Jetty’s marine life. The jetty is already part of the Geographe Bay Marine Reserve Area and there are calls to make the area a complete no fishing zone, so protecting its remarkable variety of life.