Photo
The feel of the place
The short answers
The essentials before the detail
When to come
Aug to Mar
Every spot here is in season then
Number = how many of the 2 spots are in season that month.
Windiest modelled month
January · 16.6 kt · Graveyards Beach
The month the wind model rates highest; the season above is when riders and schools go.
modelled
the month's average wind in January at Graveyards Beach, the strongest month any spot here models
A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. What it holds here is the month's average wind, month by month; it does not count how many days carry a three-hour window at 12 kt.
What it costs
mid to high
Schools
1
in the directory
Permits & rules
2 spots
with rules of their own for permits, zoning or the bathing season, on the spot cards
Where to ride
2 spots
reef waves with some flatter water before the reef, flat
Levels across the spots
Good to know before you go 2
- The best kite spots are 45-70 minutes from town inside the national park - factor in park entry fees and drive time daily.
- Very remote: limited shops/services and patchy mobile signal beyond town.
The spots
Graveyards Beach
Graveyards is the wave spot on the Ningaloo side of North West Cape near Exmouth, and it is advanced-only.
Sandy Bay
Sandy Bay is on the Ningaloo side of Cape Range National Park, not the Exmouth Gulf side, and it is a kite, windsurf and wingfoil beach rather than a place to learn.
Schools
1 in the directory
Getting there & around
Nearest airports
- Learmonth Airport (LEA), ~35km south of Exmouth town, with direct flights from Perth
Car
Transfers
Kite bag rules for your airline
Type the carrier you are flying: what it charges for a kite bag, and the year of the policy that says so.
Checked so far for Australia:QantasVirgin AustraliaJetstar
Every carrier, with limits and what riders report at the counter →
Practical
Cash & cards
Internet & working
What riders say
11 recurring claims
The tag says how far the riders who mention it agree; the figure is how many mention it.
The season riders actually name is roughly late August or September through to early November. May to August is surf season: the wind is mostly easterly, and wave-focused visitors are told outright to leave the kites at home and bring boards instead.
consensus6 riders
Bring small kites. The repeated advice is a 7m in the quiver and to forget the big light-wind kite entirely; one visitor kited nearly every day in November on a 9m and reckoned he should have been on a 7 for many of them.
consensus5 riders
Graveyards is the go-to spot in a south-westerly wind; Sandy Bay (or Neds Camp) is the flat-water alternative when you want easier conditions.
strong2 riders
Nobody who posts about Exmouth talks about the town. What they talk about is water clarity, turtles, whales breaching off the surf beach, whale sharks and a hammerhead twenty metres from shore. The town itself gets described as one pub and take an iPod, and late February heat is reported in the mid-forties.
majority5 riders
The wind is very local and it is not every day. On the same afternoon Graveyards can be howling while it never reaches the beaches further north, and whole stretches of a trip go flat - one rider on a longer October visit got out about six times and called it hit and miss.
majority4 riders
Show all 11 claims
The hazards riders actually talk about are the shoreline and the drive, not the sport. Losing ground downwind at Graveyards puts you into rocks, and driving back after dark means kangaroos - one local counted thirty in under five kilometres near the lighthouse.
majority3 riders
Due-south wind is offshore at Graveyards and should be treated as a hazard, not just a direction to avoid for quality.
mixed1 rider
The sea breeze runs to a clock. Locals tell visitors they can count on the wind being in after about half past two, even when it is still easterly or dead calm on the town side of the peninsula.
2 riders
Agreementsingle named local account, repeated in behaviour across other threadsThe line-ups stay empty and locals are quietly pleased about it - the standing joke is that visitors who complain the surf is not as good as down south do it from the car park.
single named local account2 riders
November is the one thing riders argue about. One poster calls it late in the season and points people to Geraldton instead; locals and returning visitors push back hard, call it probably the windiest month, nickname it blowvember, and one reports a 42-knot reading out in the gulf.
contested5 riders
Sandy Bay's reputation splits along local-versus-visitor lines. It is described as one of the safest places anywhere to learn - no rocks, standing depth for kilometres - and in the same thread dismissed by locals as overrated, somewhere they go for a lay day rather than a session, and busier than it used to be.
contested4 riders
The trade-off
- Graveyards and Sandy Bay both regarded by local/visiting kiters as reliable, uncrowded options depending on wind direction
- Downwinder route from Tantabiddi to Graveyards possible once November swell recedes
- Due-south wind is offshore at Graveyards — a real safety hazard, not just a poor-quality direction
- 45–70 minute drive from Exmouth town to reach either spot inside the national park
Wind micro-knowledge
Through the season · Gusts
Tips from riders
Scene & life
- Whale shark swims (Mar-Jul)
- snorkeling/diving Ningaloo Reef directly off the beach
- humpback whale watching (Jul-Oct)
- Cape Range National Park gorges and walks
Events
1 item
Western Australia Kiteboarding Tour (Perth-Exmouth Kite Safari)
campNovamateurrecurring
Guided multi-day kite safari/tour along the WA coast including Exmouth, run with fixed annual dates by Zephyr Kite Tours (and similar operators e.g. Road 2 Adventure, Wind Hounds); not a competition.
Itinerary idea
FAQ
Is Exmouth suitable for beginners?
Sandy Bay offers warm, shallow-looking, reef-protected lagoon water suited to flat-water freeride and freestyle, while Graveyards Beach nearby is rated for advanced and expert wave riders only.
Do you need a car at Exmouth?
Yes, both Graveyards Beach and Sandy Bay sit inside Cape Range National Park, 45-70 minutes' drive south of town; a 2WD can handle the main tracks but conditions should be checked.
When is the best time to kite at Exmouth?
Graveyards Beach works on SW sea-breeze afternoons from mid-August through March, and the broader autumn-to-late-spring window (March-October) is also whale shark season and the priciest time to book.
What should I know before going?
Exmouth is remote, with patchy mobile coverage once inside Cape Range National Park and daily park entry fees to factor in alongside drive time to the spots.
How this place scores
Scores out of 10, compared with other places. The data figure under each label is how much of this record that score had to work from, so a high score on thin data is a thin score.
- Flat waterdata 100%10.0
- Wavesdata 100%10.0
- Room on the waterdata 62%7.7
- Familydata 89%7.4
- Wind reliabilitydata 10%6.6
- Off the waterdata 87%6.3
- Beginner friendlydata 88%6.1
- Kite communitydata 87%3.5
- Safetydata 88%2.2
- Ease of accessdata 0%not scored
- Affordabilitydata 0%not scored
- Long staydata 0%not scored
A paler bar was scored from less than half of the record.
Scores by trip type
- Freestyle and flat waterdata 90%8.2
- Wavesdata 100%7.2
- Family tripdata 100%5.9
- Learning to ridedata 90%5.4
- Kite and workdata 45%5.2
Nothing here carries a figure for a long stay and affordability, so every line above is built without them.
Still open
Things we could not verify. If you have ridden here, you can help.
Show the 1 open questions
- Is the Graveyards to Tantabiddi downwinder near Exmouth, described in 2013, still doable?
When to go and nearby places
Last updated: 2 September 2026