Coral Bay to Carnarvon

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31-08-13 to 01-09-13

Point Quobba

What an amazing show of nature at its best here, Point Quobba blow holes are just incredible, but if that’s not enough, just around the corner in the bay, the snorkeling is the best we have had yet.

Point Quobba campground ground is a quirky little place, there are a lot of old fishermans huts, or at least I think that’s what they are, but past that you can just find a bit of turf that takes your fancy and set up camp. All pretty casual, later in the afternoon, the ranger does the rounds on his motor bike, finds the new arrivals for the day and takes your fees, all of $5.50 per camp per night!

On the day we arrived, the tide was out and the next high tide would not be until early in the morning, so we were unable to do any snorkeling until then. Instead we just walked along the rocks in ankle deep water, we were still delighted with what we could see, there were huge clams, anemones, brightly colored coral and brightly colored fish as well. All this and we didn’t even have to fully immerse ourselves in the water. However, I was looking forward to the next morning when we could actually go for a snorkel.

Just walking along the rocks we could see reef sharks about a meter in length, these little fellas won’t hurt you unless you startle them, and most of the time will see you before you see them, but I would love to come across one whilst snorkeling.

Later in the arvo, we went up to the blow holes to check them out, WOW, what a spectacle, they were really going off as the tide was now well out. The noise from these is really something. As we were lurking further forward on the rocks to get a good look, a massive wave came in and hit the rocks with a loud thundering sounds and frightened the absolute crap out of both of us. Don’t worry though, we were well aware of the danger and weren’t going to get too close!

Next morning, we didn’t have to leave the campground until we were ready, and there was no way I was leaving this place without having a snorkel, so we headed up to the bay, there was a very strong current and Pete wasn’t so sure we should get in, but I was determined, so we walked up a bit, got in and just drifted, quite quickly down, all the time being very aware of where we were being drifted too. The water was very shallow and at times I even thought I could have lost a part of my anatomy to a clam we seemed to be that close, it is also very difficult to find somewhere to put your feet down to steady yourself too as there is so much coral and not a lot of sandy bits.

Mandy, a friend we have been catching up with along the way for around a month now, was a little hesitant about snorkeling in general, but it was so nice we talked her into have a go, well I decided to go out with her, and offered her my hand to hang onto if she wanted, she was right she said. It wasn’t long into our adventure she grabs my hand, because the current was so strong, well a huge swell come and nearly carried us both away, as I was swimming us into the beach, Mandy’s grip was getting tighter and tighter. Peter and Heath (Mandy’s Husband) could see we were in a bit of trouble and Heath came out to help. We would have been ok, but just might have finished our snorkel adventure a little further down the beach than anticipated.

Unfortunately, we had to leave Point Quobba and head for Carnarvon.

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Photos

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coral on the rocks

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a clam on the rocks

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some coral and a baby clam on the rocks

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the blow holes

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more blow holes

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more blow holes