Geographe Bay

Geographe Bay is one of the largest bays on the Western Australian coast, stretching in a wide arc from Cape Naturaliste at the western end to the Leschenault Estuary near Bunbury at the eastern end. The bay faces north and is protected from the prevailing south-westerly swell by the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge, which means the water inside the bay is consistently calmer and warmer than the exposed Indian Ocean beaches on the other side of the cape.

The bay takes its name from the French corvette Geographe, which explored the coast in 1801 under the command of Nicolas Baudin. The French expedition mapped much of the south-west coastline and the bay still carries the name Baudin gave it. Several other features in the area, including Cape Naturaliste itself, retain their French expedition names.

The beaches along Geographe Bay are uniformly excellent. The sand is fine and white, the water grades from pale green to deep turquoise, and the gentle slope makes it safe for children. Dunsborough, at the western end near the cape, is the most popular holiday town and has the best infrastructure. Busselton sits in the middle with its famous 1.8 kilometre jetty, and the Bunbury end has the longer, less crowded stretches.

Between September and November each year, humpback whales pass through the bay on their southward migration from the Kimberley breeding grounds. Whale watching tours operate from Dunsborough and Busselton during this period, and it is common to see mothers with calves resting in the shallow water. Bottlenose dolphins are resident in the bay year-round, and the Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre at the eastern end offers supervised beach encounters with a habituated pod.

Geographe Bay is the default beach destination for the Margaret River wine region. Most visitors combine a few days of winery visits with mornings at the beach, and the bay's calm conditions make it a reliable option even when the surf beaches on the cape are too rough for casual swimming. The bay is best from November to April.