Turquoise Bay has one of those reputations that it fully lives up to — and that’s a short enough list that it’s worth saying plainly. The water is the kind of blue that makes you think your eyes are malfunctioning. The reef is metres from shore. The drift snorkel along the southern current is one of the great short snorkel experiences in Australia.
There is no camping directly at Turquoise Bay — it’s a day-use area. The nearest campground is Mandu Mandu, 4km to the south, which is where you base yourself for beach access. Camp at Mandu Mandu, drive or walk to Turquoise Bay in the morning before the day-visitor cars arrive, and you’ll have a window of relative quiet that the day-trippers from Exmouth don’t get.
The drift snorkel works like this: enter at the northern end of the bay, allow the gentle current to carry you south along the reef edge, exit at the beach, walk back, repeat. The fish life, coral, and occasional turtle make it worth doing twice in one morning. Reef sharks are common and completely uninterested in you.
Mandu Mandu campground itself is exposed — no shade trees, no windbreaks, the Indian Ocean directly in front of you and the Cape Range behind. Sites are walk-in or accessible by 4WD on the sandy tracks. Composting toilets on site. No water, no showers — bring everything you need from Exmouth.
Exmouth is 60–65km north via the park road and has a Coles, fuel stations, and several good restaurants. Book campground sites through DBCA (WA Parks); they open three months in advance and fill within hours. This is not an exaggeration — set an alarm for the booking release date.