Coral Bay – 9 to 15 May 2010

On our drive from Carnarvon to Coral Bay we crossed the tropic of Capricorn – going “troppo” again.

Coral Bay is a small township nestled at the end of the bay. It is within the Ningaloo Marine Park

The fringing coral reef comes close to shore and in the protected waters of the bay there is coral and a wide assortment of reef fish. We snorkeled directly from the beach which was fantastic. With our snorkeling gear purchased in Perth, including top to toe suits called “rashies” to protect us from sunburn and errant jellyfish we felt like our Victorian era grandparents.

We took a tour with Ningaloo Reef Dive which offered the chance to swim with the Whale Sharks. The cruise had a spotter plane to look for these gentle giants, which although sharks and the world’s largest fish, feed on plankton like many whales. We had perfect weather with calm seas, and finding two whale sharks close together we had four drops into the water, on one of which we broke the cruises record for swimming with whale sharks, spending 27 consecutive minutes in the water. The Department of Environment and Conservation controls the number of swimmers allowed to be with the shark at any one time and the total amount of time the boat can remain in the sharks vicinity so we were very lucky. We had two wonderful snorkels on the fringing reef as well.

We enjoyed swimming with the Whale Sharks so much that we also booked the Manta Ray cruise. They are beautiful and graceful creatures who look like swimming blankets. Even though our Manta Ray did a barrel roll for us, we had to swim a lot faster to keep up with it. Again we had two great snorkels on the fringing reef and saw a turtle. We also saw dolphins and a dugong from the bridge of the boat. We have noticed that wild animals are often complete hams.

This dugong has been christened Hollywood by the crew as she likes to show off and she did hang around the surface so we could admire her for quite a while.

We spent the rest of our days snorkeling off the beach and going for walks. In the evenings Trish tried to reduce the crocodile population in Northern Australia by eating Cajun Crocodile at the Reef Cafe.

Please Note: All the underwater photos are courtesy of Ningaloo Reef Dive.