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Reef snorkelling
Here I go walking out to the reef First things first, Happy Birthday Shannon!! Not the best thing being away on your kids birthdays, even if they're adults! We did send her a wee pressy from Broome though and I called her this morning and had a lovely chat!
We had a great day today here at Coral bay. One thing I personally love about the place is its so compact, the two caravan parks are almost next door, the beach is a stones throw away, the few shops and cafes are just across the road. So often when you stay in towns the caravan parks are way out of the town centre and its a bit hard to get around. But not Coral Bay!
This morning I hired some snorkel gear and we popped down to the water. Ningaloo Reef is known for the reef being very close to the shore, so seriously easy access. Within a few metres off the shore you start to see masses of beautiful tropical fish and huge coral reefs. The water is crystal clear and it drops away so quickly. Honestly it felt like I was swimming around in a giant tropical fish tank! I got the hang of the
Reef snorkelling
One minute you're standing putting on your gear, next you're into very very deep reef water snorkel and flippers soon enough, though I was having trouble with minor cramping in my feet, which made things a bit difficult. At first I didnt venture far, and I freaked when I realised I was being surrounded by transparent sword type fish, (think they are called Longtoms) about 30cm's long. Then a massive white fish swam right passed me! Thats when I realised they were everywhere! I practiced swimming back to shore and realised it was very easy. So I started to get much braver and couldnt get enough of it. Some of the coral stood 20 to 30 feet tall I'd say! I was swimming in pretty deep water at times. And the fish! I followed a massive bright green / blue fish, not sure what it was, maybe some kind of emperor fish, he was about 90 cm's (guessing) and I followed him for ages. Saw him fighting with other fish and nibbling at the coral etc. Saw large yellow stripey fish, black fish with red lips and stacks of smaller tropical looking things. I was constantly laughing with delight! I'd wished I could have shared the adventure with someone and I did try to explain how
Coral Bay
Here's Finnies cafe! seriously amazing it was to Rob. But its one of those things you have to see to really appreciate I think. When you stand on the shore you just see darker looking water. It's so hard to believe what is under the surface. I really wished I'd had a camera.
Reluctantly I ventured back to shore as we had booked a quad bike tour so needed to get ready. Would love the opportunity to scuba here again!
Just before the quad bike tour we had a coffee at a cafe called Finns. Pretty sure our grandson Finn could do a better job with the coffee though!
The Quad bike tour was fantastic. Rob drove and I sat on the back. This place is surrounded by sand dunes and you follow the tour guide on his bike. I was a bit nervous to begin with, then decided to just let it happen! If you are going to visit Coral Bay, its so much better if you have a 4wd. These bikes accessed all the 4wd tracks in the dunes and fishing spots that are otherwise out of reach. It is just amazing to see and heaps of fun
Coral bay
Just a little look see, to show a little of the town to ride around! We stopped to see massive turtles swimming round. At certain times of year you get to see them nesting and the babies being born, but thats all over for this year. Still we saw them scooting around and popping up for air!
These quad bike tours can also take you snorkelling in different local areas and the guide said they see dolphins and tiger sharks quite often there. Didnt know about this, too late now but that would have been awesome, though VERY scary!
We stopped at a beautiful beach for a short dip and cool off, gorgeous! Then we got to go down some pretty tall sand dunes. It seemed scarier than it really was, but a lot of fun!
Back in town and we hurried to the sports bar next door to watch Demons play Collingwood. I had thought we would see the start of the match BUT I totally forgot about the time diference! The game was half over! Oh well, never mind, we saw the last half and if you didnt know, my bold statment about demons smashing Colingwood didnt quite pan out to be true... Never mind it was
Coral Bay
That water is seriously blue a great second half and we downed a couple of very cold, very large (and VERY expensive!) pints of beer. And Demons didnt lose by much and showed some fight which was great!
So that was our day! Not sure what tomorrow will bring but I would love one more swim on the reef if possible, then I'm happy to head off. We are finding it a bit hard to just sit still for too long now. It feels like the home stretch and in some ways, I won't mind when we get home. Not sure how people travel for months on end. Its been awesome thats a given! But we wont mind being home again either! But there are still heaps of adventures to have before that happens!
So if you're ever thinking about coming up this way I would definitely recommend Coral bay! Its pretty expensive here because they are a long way from any major town, the water is mainly salty artesian bore water (crazy hot in the showers and when they water the grass!) and if you dont like water there's not a lot to do. But the bay, the reef, the fish, the
Coral bay
Its an extemely quaint picturesque town sand dunes are superb and we loved it! Slightly cooler than Broome and Darwin, but still pretty fabulous for winter! We definitely copped sunburn today on the bikes!
Oh the photos on the bikes aren't the best and the tour guy took heaps but we forgot to go back and check them. Will do tomorrow before we leave.
So till the next blog people, stay warm!
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