When I booked Coral Bay I could only get 4 nights from 14th July and so when we left Exmouth we intended to drive to Minilys Roadhouse to overnight and then double back to Coral Bay for our booking. As we had to pass the turnoff to Coral Bay we decided to take a chance and call in to Coral Bay to see if we could pick up a cancellation for 13th. Lucky us - we did!!!!
Coral Bay is a tiny community, set on a bay on Southern Ningaloo Marine Park. There is only one street in the town and a beautiful white sandy beach and you can snorkel on the reef just off shore. Our camp site in the caravan park is only 100m from the beach. In the afternoon we took a walk around the small shopping centre and along the beach to familiarize ourselves with the area.
Most mornings when the tide is out it is an interesting walk along the beach and we walked there most mornings. Most afternoons we went to the beach for a swim and snorkel. The sunsets over the beach here are beautiful and people take their chairs and drinks over to witness them.
We wanted to do the swimming with whale sharks cruise but as it is almost the end of the season we were a bit hesitant about booking because of the possibility we wouldnt see them and there is no refund. Anyway we decided to book and hope for the best.
The cruise started with a snorkel at a site inside the marine park, where we saw huge coral bomas (spelling??) and grey reef sharks hovering over a large coral boma where tiny fish come out of the coral and clean their teeth. It was amazing snorkeling. Heading back to the boat against a strong current and heavy swell, Pete developed a strong cramp in his bad leg and I had to help him get back to the boat.
When we left this area we headed out to the open sea and were expecting a 2 hour journey to the area where the whale sharks are usually seen, when the spotter plane contacted the captain to tell him there was a 4 metre whale shark swimming about 20 minutes in front of us. Everyone got excited at this as apparently the day before they didnt sight a whale shark at all and didnt get back to port until 6.00pm that night.
We were split into 2 groups and when we reached the area the shark was in, the boat was positioned in front of the shark and the 1st group jumped into the water and swam towards it in a line. As the shark passed them the 1st group were picked up by the boat and the 2nd group jumped in. We were in the 2nd group and Pete went in, but as it was quite a long swim to reach the shark and because his leg was still bothering him, he swam back to the boat.
I stayed with my group and we swam alongside the shark 4 times. It was only 3 metres away from us and we could could see it very clearly. We could keep up with it as it swam quite slowly and didnt seem bothered by us at all. It was an unforgetable experience and a great day out.
Although the whale sharks have been known to grow up to 15 metres, the only ones that visit this area are young males about 4-5 metres long. On the way back to shore we saw humpback whales, a manta ray and dugongs and stopped for another snorkel in a more shallow part of the reef.
When we got back we were knackered (again) and had takeaway fish & chips for dinner and an early
night. It seems to me we are getting knackered quite a lot lately. Maybe our age has something to do with that!!!!
Our last day in Coral Bay was spent catching up on chores and not doing much at all. We went to Fins Restaurant for dinner and had a very nice meal of Ruby Snapper. The fish in this part of Australia is the best we've eaten for a very long time. It was also the quickest dinner we have eaten for a long time. We arrived at 7.00pm and were home by 8.00pm (unheard of!!!!)
Coral Bay was great but we wont miss the tap water. It was vey salty and not recommended for drinking or washing cars. It was like having a shower in sea water. Drinking water was available to fill small containers. We also had drinking water in the van tank, so no problem.
More blog from Shark Bay, our next stop.
Cheers
Rhonda (Sam) & Pete
No comments:
Post a Comment