Are the Montebello Islands safe to visit after the atomic tests?

Mostly yes, with two clear exceptions. Trimouille and Alpha Islands still carry slightly elevated background radiation at the ground-zero sites and DBCA limits visits to one hour per day on each, with no soil disturbance and no removal of relics. The other 170-plus islands and the surrounding waters are at normal background levels and are fished and visited routinely. Charter operators brief these rules at the start of every trip.

How do I get to the Montebello Islands?

Charter or private boat only. The most common access is a 5 to 10 day mothership charter departing Dampier, which is a 16-hour drive from Perth or a flight into Karratha airport. A smaller number of charters depart Exmouth. Private boats need to be a capable offshore platform with full self-sufficiency for the 100-kilometre crossing — most private trips travel as a small fleet.

Can I camp at the Montebellos?

Yes, in limited designated zones with a DBCA permit. There is no water, no fuel, no facilities and no waste collection — campers must be fully self-sufficient and pack everything out. The vast majority of fishing visitors stay on a chartered or private mothership rather than camping.

What fish does the Montebello Islands marine park hold?

Over 450 recorded species. The reef and pelagic mix targeted by recreational and charter anglers includes Spanish mackerel, red and spangled emperor, coral trout, rankin cod, giant trevally, queenfish, samson, sailfish and mangrove jack along the lagoon edges. Sanctuary zones overlay parts of the chain — verify on the current DBCA visitor map before fishing.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Montebello Islands (Conservation Park / Marine Park)

Sun 06 Sep 2026 · Australia/Perth

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Today Tomorrow Sat 12 Sep

📍 Montebello Islands (Conservation Park / Marine Park)

last quarter · 32%

Weather: Sunny Wind: SW 211° · 47 km/h Swell: 0.9 m @ 10 s SW Water: 23.4 °C Pressure: 1017.0 hPa ↓ falling

★★☆☆☆

Low Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind SW 36 km/h

Moon last quarter all day

Water temp 23.4 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 6:00 am Last light 6:32 pm

High 2:48 am Low 10:14 am High 5:06 pm Low 8:42 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 pm → 8:00 pm

First light

6:00 am

Last light

6:32 pm

Sunrise

6:22 am

Sunset

6:10 pm

Moonrise

2:15 am

Moonset

1:09 pm

High tide

2:48 am

Low tide

10:14 am

High tide

5:06 pm

Low tide

8:42 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

22°

↙︎

220°

42 km/h

1am

☀️

22°

↙︎

218°

42 km/h

2am

☀️

21°

↙︎

217°

43 km/h

3am

☀️

21°

↙︎

213°

45 km/h

4am

☀️

21°

↙︎

209°

45 km/h

5am

☀️

21°

↙︎

211°

42 km/h

6am

☀️

22°

↙︎

216°

46 km/h

7am

☀️

22°

↙︎

211°

44 km/h

8am

☁️

22°

↙︎

217°

44 km/h

9am

☀️

21°

↓︎

197°

44 km/h

10am

☀️

21°

↓︎

202°

42 km/h

11am

☀️

21°

↙︎

213°

43 km/h

12pm

☀️

21°

↙︎

211°

47 km/h

1pm

☀️

21°

↙︎

217°

41 km/h

2pm

☀️

22°

↙︎

217°

36 km/h

3pm

☀️

22°

↙︎

223°

33 km/h

4pm

☀️

22°

↙︎

229°

32 km/h

5pm

☀️

23°

↙︎

231°

35 km/h

6pm

☀️

23°

↙︎

232°

36 km/h

7pm

☀️

23°

↙︎

226°

36 km/h

8pm

☀️

23°

↙︎

220°

37 km/h

9pm

☀️

23°

↙︎

215°

34 km/h

10pm

☀️

23°

↙︎

220°

32 km/h

11pm

☀️

24°

↓︎

191°

36 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.1 m SW

12am

1.0 m

@ 12 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

1am

1.1 m

@ 12 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

2am

1.1 m

@ 12 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

3am

1.0 m

@ 12 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

4am

1.0 m

@ 12 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

5am

1.0 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

6am

1.0 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

7am

1.0 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

8am

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

9am

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

10am

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

11am

0.9 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

12pm

0.9 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

1pm

0.9 m

@ 8 s

←︎

Slight

chop

2pm

0.9 m

@ 7 s

←︎

Slight

chop

3pm

0.9 m

@ 7 s

←︎

Slight

chop

4pm

0.9 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

5pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

6pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

7pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

8pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

9pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

10pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

11pm

1.1 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

↘ cooling — down 0.7° over the last 3 days

Thu

3 Sep

24.1°

Fri

4 Sep

24.0°

Sat

5 Sep

23.7°

Sun

6 Sep

23.4°

Mon

7 Sep

23.1°

Tue

8 Sep

23.1°

Wed

9 Sep

23.4°

Thu

10 Sep

23.6°

Fri

11 Sep

23.9°

Sat

12 Sep

24.2°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 47 km/h SW (211°).

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

Open in the full fishing map (beta) →

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 pm → 8:00 pm

First light

6:00 am

Last light

6:32 pm

Sunrise

6:22 am

Sunset

6:10 pm

Moonrise

2:15 am

Moonset

1:09 pm

High tide

2:48 am

Low tide

10:14 am

High tide

5:06 pm

Low tide

8:42 pm

Species at this spot

Weekly Bite Forecast

Montebello Islands (Conservation Park / Marine Park) + nearby Perth spots. Thursday 6pm — top windows, conditions, what's biting.

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