10 May 2012 (blog)

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Next stop was Coral Bay and from Carnarvon it was a leisurely drive that only took a few hours.

On the way in we dodged emus and wild goats; we've dodged all creatures great and small over the past few weeks. We also passed the Tropic of Capricorn which I found kind of exciting; simples minds = simples pleasures.

Coral Bay is a small little spot but it was buzzing with activity when we arrived. Essentially there is only one main strip leading into the Bay; however, it is a main tourist attraction. People were everywhere and clearly dressed for the beach. While it was busy it also seemed like a relaxing place to be. There are numerous caravan parks and resorts so for a small place there's clearly things to see and do here.

After checking into the caravan park and setting up we popped into the visitor centre to find out the lay of the land. There were many tours on offer and they did sound quite enticing but given we do have a budget to stick to we opted to go snorkelling; after all that is the main reason we came here. We had a dip at the beach and worked out the best spots to snorkel for novices such as ourselves and after lunch we got ready to see what we could see under the sea.

With no fins and only a mask and snorkel between us we took it in turns to take a little venture away from the shallows. Easy to see why people travel hundreds of kilometres every year to get to this destination. It was really our first time snorkelling and you are essentially doing it in one of the most beautiful spots in the world.

We could have stayed out there all day. The entire Bay is lined with a coral reef and we saw all sorts of tropical fish which was completely amazing. Definitely an activity we will look into a bit more when we get to tropical Queensland.

The sunset over the Bay was nothing short of stunning and that topped a great day in the sun.

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