How do you actually get onto Dirk Hartog Island?

Two practical routes. The Hartog Explorer landing barge from Shelter Bay at Steep Point carries one 4WD and trailer at a time across the South Passage in around 15 minutes, running 1 March to 30 November in a morning window that shifts by month. Bookings are essential and it does not sail every day, so confirm your day with the operator. Or board a ferry from Denham — Island Life Adventures and the Eco Lodge run separate services across the inner Shark Bay side. Charter flights from Monkey Mia airfield reach the island airstrip in around 20 minutes for fly-in stays.

Is the fishing as good as Steep Point?

Different rather than better or worse. The western coast of Dirk Hartog has the same Gascoyne pelagic palette as Steep Point but with a wider variety of fishable corners — Surf Point, Notch Point, Withnell Point, Sandy Point — and the eastern Shark Bay side adds calmer beach and small-boat options that Steep Point doesn't. Most multi-day trips fish both islands, using the barge to swap sides as the weather dictates.

Are the sanctuary zones really that strict?

Yes. Dirk Hartog sits inside the Shark Bay World Heritage Area and the Shark Bay Marine Park, with sanctuary zones covering significant stretches of both the western and eastern coasts. Penalties for fishing inside a sanctuary zone run to thousands of dollars and zones are camera-monitored. Use the Marine Parks WA app for live GPS overlay and verify each drift before you cast.

Does the West Coast demersal closure apply?

No — Dirk Hartog is in the Gascoyne Coast bioregion, managed separately. The Gascoyne mixed demersal daily bag is 4 fish with tighter per-species caps within that total, plus species-specific size limits. Shark Bay inner-gulf pink snapper closures apply separately and are zone-specific; Dirk Hartog straddles those inner-gulf zones, so verify which side you are fishing before targeting snapper. Rules continue to evolve — check DPIRD before each trip.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Dirk Hartog Island (Wirruwana — Outer Shark Bay)

Tue 13 Oct 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated 2:05am AWST

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📍 Dirk Hartog Island (Wirruwana — Outer Shark Bay)

new · 4%

Weather: Sunny Wind: S 186° · 28 km/h Swell: 1.9 m @ 11 s SW Water: 21.4 °C Pressure: 1017.2 hPa → steady Faces several ways: wind direction isn't scored here

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 7:00 pm

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind SW 25 km/h

Moon new all day

Water temp 21.4 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Now

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 5:31 am Last light 6:55 pm

Low 5:50 am High 12:30 pm High 10:38 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 pm → 9:30 pm

3h 30m

Good

5:00 am → 7:30 am

2h 30m

Good

12:30 pm → 3:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

1:30 am → 3:30 am

First light

5:31 am

Last light

6:55 pm

Sunrise

5:54 am

Sunset

6:32 pm

Moonrise

7:09 am

Moonset

9:07 pm

Low tide

5:50 am

High tide

12:30 pm

High tide

10:38 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

20°

↓︎

179°

29 km/h

1am

☀️

20°

↓︎

181°

29 km/h

2am

☀️

20°

↓︎

186°

28 km/h

3am

☀️

20°

↓︎

186°

28 km/h

4am

☀️

20°

↓︎

191°

27 km/h

5am

☀️

20°

↓︎

193°

26 km/h

6am

☀️

20°

↓︎

192°

25 km/h

Now

☀️

20°

↓︎

195°

25 km/h

8am

☀️

21°

↓︎

197°

25 km/h

9am

☀️

22°

↓︎

199°

25 km/h

10am

☀️

23°

↓︎

202°

24 km/h

11am

☀️

23°

↙︎

206°

22 km/h

12pm

☀️

23°

↙︎

214°

23 km/h

1pm

☀️

24°

↙︎

221°

25 km/h

2pm

☀️

23°

↙︎

223°

25 km/h

3pm

☀️

23°

↙︎

226°

26 km/h

4pm

☀️

22°

↙︎

227°

27 km/h

5pm

☀️

22°

↙︎

226°

26 km/h

6pm

☁️

21°

↙︎

227°

26 km/h

7pm

☁️

20°

↙︎

219°

25 km/h

8pm

☁️

20°

↙︎

214°

21 km/h

9pm

☀️

20°

↙︎

218°

19 km/h

10pm

☁️

20°

↙︎

215°

18 km/h

11pm

☁️

20°

↙︎

227°

15 km/h

Hourly Swell

Easing 1.9 → 1.5 m SW

12am

1.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

1am

1.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

2am

1.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

3am

1.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

4am

1.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

5am

1.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

6am

1.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

Now

1.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

8am

1.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

9am

1.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

10am

1.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

11am

1.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

12pm

1.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

1pm

1.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

2pm

1.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

3pm

1.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

4pm

1.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

5pm

1.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

6pm

1.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

7pm

1.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

8pm

1.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

9pm

1.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

10pm

1.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

11pm

1.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 21.4°

Sat

10 Oct

21.6°

Sun

11 Oct

21.5°

Mon

12 Oct

21.4°

Tue

13 Oct

21.4°

Wed

14 Oct

21.6°

Thu

15 Oct

21.8°

Fri

16 Oct

21.9°

Sat

17 Oct

22.0°

Sun

18 Oct

22.1°

Mon

19 Oct

22.0°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 28 km/h S (186°).

Wind map data: ECMWF HRES (operational), updated every 6 hours. Not for navigation.

Open in the full fishing map →

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 pm → 9:30 pm

3h 30m

Good

5:00 am → 7:30 am

2h 30m

Good

12:30 pm → 3:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

1:30 am → 3:30 am

First light

5:31 am

Last light

6:55 pm

Sunrise

5:54 am

Sunset

6:32 pm

Moonrise

7:09 am

Moonset

9:07 pm

Low tide

5:50 am

High tide

12:30 pm

High tide

10:38 pm

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