Shell Beach is made up of Millions of 'Coquina Bivalve' ShellsShell Beach is located about forty-five kilometres from Denham and is accessible to all vehicles. This beach is formed from billions of tiny white 'coquina bivalve' shells and is one of only two in the world. It stretches for nearly one hundred kilometres and is between seven and ten metres deep and is aptly named Shell Beach.
'Coquina Bivalve' shells at Shark Bay World Heritage Area The shells are mined under special license nowadays for production of calcium for poultry feed and exotic mulch for gardens and planters. In the early years of Denham, blocks of the solidified shell deposits were mined and used as materials in building constructions. When William Dampier first arrived in Shark Bay he noted the unique shells of the area. On 7 August 1699 he wrote: ŒThe shore was lined thick with many other sorts of very strange and beautiful Shells, for variety of Colour and Shape, most finely spotted with Red, Black, or Yellow, &c. such as I have not seen any where but at this place. I brought away a great many of them; but lost all, except a very few, and those not the best. Today Shell Beach is a source of wonder. The entire beach is made up of millions upon millions of tiny coquina shells and, at low tide, it is possible to walk hundreds of metres into the bay all the time treading on a seemingly endless surface of shells. There must be many photo albums around the world with photos of persons throwing a handful of snow like shells high into the air, with the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean behind them; the sun bright; and the photo giving the appearance of a heavy snow storm in the tropics of Australia’s Coral Coast. The effect is brilliant; a long, snow-white beach bordered by aqua blue ocean waters.
Shell Beach Have a look at where our tours go from Perth where Shell Beach is part of many of them. or
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