Ningaloo Reef sits right off the coast of Exmouth, close enough that you can be floating over coral within twenty minutes of leaving the jetty. Turtles, reef sharks, and a rainbow of fish make an appearance most days. Whether you’ve booked our one-hour coral viewing trip, the two-hour snorkel and viewing combo, or a full half-day tour, the reef looks after the entertainment. Packing is the one job left to you.
The water here stays warm for most of the year, the sun is relentless, and the whole trip runs on Exmouth time, which is to say unhurried. That laid-back pace is part of the appeal, but it also makes packing easy to put off until the morning of your tour, and a rushed, half-thought-out bag tends to show. A missing hat or a forgotten water bottle is a small thing that becomes a bigger thing three hours into a hot day.
Most people overpack for the boat and underpack for the beach day that wraps around it. This packing list fixes both problems at once. We’ll cover the beach essentials for before and after your trip, then the specific gear worth having on the water itself, and finally clear up exactly what View Ningaloo already provides so you’re not lugging along things you don’t need.
Before you board and after you’re back, you’ll likely spend time on the sand, at your accommodation, or waiting near Tantabiddi boat ramp. This part of the day looks a lot like any other beach trip in Western Australia, so the packing rules stay simple.
If you’ve searched what to bring for the beach before a Ningaloo trip, the answer here covers the whole day, not just the water. What to take to the beach doesn’t really change just because your morning includes a boat tour. The list below is short, and there’s a good chance you already own most of it.
Exmouth sun is strong, even under cloud cover. This far north, UV levels sit high year-round, so sun protection isn’t optional.
A refillable water bottle matters more than guests usually plan for. Boats and jetties don’t always offer shade, and Exmouth heat builds quickly once the sun’s properly up.
Packing for the beach side of your day really is this simple. These beach essentials answer almost every question guests ask us before they arrive. Treat this short section as your beach checklist for the hours either side of the tour, and you’ll have covered it in about five minutes of packing.
This is where packing gets slightly more specific, though still nowhere near complicated. Most of what follows fits into one small bag with room to spare.
Reef shoes are worth packing, particularly if you’re wading in at low tide or walking barefoot across the jetty. Bare feet manage fine once you’re aboard the boat, but reef shoes protect against sharp coral fragments underfoot and against decking that heats up fast on a clear afternoon. If you already own a pair from another trip, this is a good excuse to pack them again. A cheap pair from a surf shop does the job just as well as an expensive one, since the point is coverage, not performance.
Polarised sunglasses cut glare off the water noticeably, more than people expect until they try a pair. Without them, spotting marine life from the surface gets genuinely harder, since bright reflection washes out most of what’s moving below it. A cheap non-polarised pair still protects your eyes from UV, but it won’t do much for actually seeing the reef.
Reef safe sunscreen matters here specifically, not just as a general sun rule for the day. Ningaloo sits inside a protected marine park, and research has linked common sunscreen chemicals like oxybenzone and octinoxate to coral damage over time. Apply it before you leave your accommodation rather than on the boat, since wet sunscreen rubs off in the water fast and does the reef no favours at all. “Reef safe” isn’t an officially regulated term, so the safer bet is checking the ingredients list yourself for a mineral-based, zinc oxide formula free of oxybenzone and octinoxate.
An underwater camera turns out to be the item guests regret leaving behind more than anything else. You don’t need anything expensive to get a good shot. A basic waterproof camera, or a phone tucked into a proper waterproof housing, captures turtles and coral just fine, and it’s the sort of thing you’ll actually look back on for years.
If you’re bringing a GoPro or similar action camera, charge it the night before and clear the memory card. It sounds obvious until you’re the person standing on the swim platform realising the battery died at breakfast. A wrist strap or float attachment is worth the few extra dollars too, since gear sinks fast in open water and doesn’t often come back.
A dry bag solves the one genuine hassle of a day on the water: wet gear mixing with dry gear on the ride home. Phones, wallets, car keys, and a spare shirt all fit inside a small one, and it means nothing ends up soaked by the time you’re back on land.
Most tours, including ours, supply masks, snorkels, and fins as part of the ticket price. Bringing your own snorkel set is entirely optional. Some guests just prefer the fit and feel of gear they already own.
Not every tour needs the same bag. What you bring shifts a little depending on how long you’re out there, and which of our Exmouth tours you’ve chosen.
You stay dry the whole way through on this one, viewing the reef through the SubSea Explorer’s glass windows rather than getting in the water. If you’re still weighing up a snorkelling tour against a viewing-only one, this is the dry option. Skip the snorkel gear entirely. A hat, sunglasses, water bottle, and maybe a camera cover it.
This is where the full water-based section of the checklist earns its place. You’ll want reef safe sunscreen applied before you leave, a rash vest if you run cold, and your own mask if you have a preferred fit.
Three hours out means more sun exposure and more time between snacks, so pack a bit heavier here. An extra hat for the kids, a second water bottle each, and a dry bag big enough for a spare shirt all make sense on the longer trips.
This part is worth clearing up properly, because it trips up a lot of first-time guests. A proper boat checklist for a licensed tour operator is long. It covers life jackets, flares, radios, first aid kits, and a dozen other legally required items that keep everyone safe out on the water.
None of that is your job. Essential boating gear like safety equipment sits squarely with the operator, not the guest, and it’s already sorted and checked before you ever step aboard. You won’t be handed a manifest to sign off on, and nobody expects you to bring your own life jacket or flares.
So what you need on a boat as a passenger is a much shorter, much friendlier list than what an operator carries. Boat essentials for a guest really just means sun protection, water, and the swimwear or camera gear already covered above. Between the crew, the vessel, and the equipment already on board, the safety side of the day is entirely handled. Your only real job is showing up sunscreened, hydrated, and ready to look through the glass.
A shorter list, but worth a mention. Leave the single-use plastic bags at home. Western Australia has banned them statewide, and Ningaloo’s marine environment is exactly the reason why. Skip the fins if you’re only doing the one-hour coral viewing tour, since you won’t be getting in the water at all. Glass bottles aren’t practical on a moving boat, so stick to a reusable bottle instead. And valuables you’d hate to lose, like expensive watches or loose cash, are better left in the car or your accommodation than balanced on a swim platform.
Here’s the entire packing list in one place, so you can screenshot it before you leave home or print it out the night before.
Families travelling with young kids might add a spare change of clothes and an extra hat, since sun hats have a habit of ending up in the water. Anyone prone to seasickness is generally better off travelling light rather than carrying a full bag on deck, so pack that dry bag with only what you truly need close at hand.
Nothing on this packing list is hard to find or expensive to buy. Most Exmouth visitors already own the majority of it before they’ve even booked, which is exactly how a packing list for a half-day boat trip should feel.
Packing for a Ningaloo Reef tour really comes down to two short lists: what gets you through the beach day, and what gets you through the water. Neither one takes much planning, and neither one should eat into your holiday the night before.
Most of what’s on this list already lives in a cupboard somewhere at home. A hat, a water bottle, sunscreen, a towel. The only items worth a special trip to the shops are the reef-specific ones: reef shoes if you don’t own a pair, reef safe sunscreen if your usual bottle isn’t marine-friendly, and maybe a cheap underwater camera if you want proof of the turtle that swam right past the window.
Turtles don’t wait around for perfect preparation, and neither should you. Once your bag’s packed, the only thing left to do is watch the coral drift by from the deck of the boat.
Got a question before you book? Get in touch with our team here.
