Calm Blue Coral Bay

---

Day 4

Coral Bay

We booked a trip yesterday to take a 1 hour tour on a glass-bottomed boat at 9am this morning. Unfortunately, not enough people signed up for it and we instead (paid extra and) upgraded to a 2-hour touring plus snorkelling trip. It should be fun, but it meant we had a couple of hours to kill in which we couldn't really organise anything else, and we're still disappointed at the cost of some activities we'd been looking forward to. Deep sea fishing, swimming with whale sharks and looking for dugongs all lie around the $300 mark, per person. We have to treat this trip as the 'paddle of beer' of the north coast. Each stop is like a sample of ale, starting with the pale ale that is Kalbarri, and moving towards the dark ale of Coral Bay (maybe I got that the wrong way around since the beaches seem to be getting lighter and lighter the further north we head.) Either way, this trip is the scout trip which will provide us with the research we need to plan an in depth journey through the area.

To pass the time, we walked along the coast, all glistening blue and tempting, though a bit chilly. It may sound strange since its technically true all the time, but standing on the edge of the coast, my feet ankle deep in the gently lapping water, I felt so connected to the rest of the world. Outback Dan calls me Miss Profound now....and occassionally Miss Obvious (especially after my comment yesterday: 'it's so faaaaaar!')...

***
Back from the tour...and absolutely gobsmacked! We met up at the Miss Coral Bay III moored just off the beach, and put our gear in a central container. Only 6 people had decided to join, and we all sat on either side of the viewing portal, being enlightened by a stream of commentary from our Captain, Brenton. We learnt about the hard coral found inside the reef (where we'd be swimming), and the soft coral found outside the reef (the place we wouldn't swim/get eaten at). There are over 180 varieties of coral in the Ningaloo, and they're all so individual and amazing to see. The coral viewing took place first, the boat gliding and slowing down in some areas, and there were Red emperor fish and other's just swimming around underneath the glass bottom of our boat.

After a time we pulled up at the maze, named so because it's a small area of coral with intermittent pathways of sand, but the deckhand says it's called the maze because it's aMAZing...and it really was. We saw multicoloured fish, stripey fish, small fish, big fish, and even a stingray and a sea turtle. Danilo saw a reefshark, but I didn't see it...that time. I did on our second stop! We followed it for a while but then it was time to head back to the boat. What a fabulous experience. Very highly recommended!!! This was the first time we'd entered the water (more than knee deep) since leaving Perth. (Since my last swim in Danilo's swimming pool I think). What a first swim!

Tonight we'll probably just head to the beach and chill out watching the sunset...with the other hundred people who had the same unique idea...and then tomorrow we head back down to Carnarvon. I had hoped to get up to Exmouth and beyond (to Turquoise Beach!) but really its a relief not to be packing and driving off so soon. This gives us time to decompress and really enjoy our time away before setting off to the next location.

Wildlife sightings so far:
10 Foxes (roadkill)
9 Rabbits (roadkill)
14 Goats (alive - 3 babies!)
~50 Roos (roadkill)
5 cows (alive) 1 cow (roadkill)
5 Dolphins
5 eagles (alive)
15 crows (alive...eating dead roos..ugh)
1 emu (alive)
0 Monkeys
100's of FISH (stripey, spotted AND plain)
2 Reef Sharks
2 Stingrays
1 Sea Turtle

---

Photos

No Outback Dan!
Don't do it!

Comments

[Eric]

I really enjoyed your Oz post. I miss my time there. My blog is looking for travel photos. If you have the time, email us some at [e-mail] or check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Eric