Day 3: Loitering in Coral Bay

I couldn't come all this way and just overnight here, So before I left Perth I did a quick search of dive/snorkelling providers and settled on a half day trip to snorkel with the resident Manta Rays through Ningaloo Reef Dive. I had the choice of swimming with Whale sharks, but for this trip there was something about swimming close to such large graceful animals that the Mantas won out. Plus I figured that while Jen is jealous of the Mantas, she'd kill me if I swam with the Whale sharks without her...

The first part was snorkelling round a shallow reef (1-10m water depth). Loads of fish, a Hawksbill turtle, and a pair of inquisitive reef sharks. It was quite good seeing this with a small group as we didn't get in each others way, plus I seemed to be the only one diving down to get a clearer view, rather than float at the surface. What was most impressive though was a family with 2 small children. The 6 year old girl did the full trip clinging on to her noodle (swim float) and was really excited to see the sharks and wanted to follow them when they swam away.

Reef fish. Identification someone?

Reef shark attracted to flailings of snorkellers

A grazing Hawksbill turtle

Snapper. Good eating...

The Manta Rays were amazing. Such large majestic creatures. Apparently the ones we saw were the smaller (3m) inshore species. Oceanic ones get up to 8m across the wings. The downside is that they stayed about 6m down and we had to stay at surface so we didn't disturb them. While we could see them fairly clearly, the back scatter in the water means the photos weren't much cop. Yes, I can hear your sympathy from here...

This afternoon was spent trying to wash half a tub of vaseline out of my beard (needed for the diving mask to get a good seal) then a wander round Coral Bay town. If you are envisaging anything special, you're a bit wide of the mark. It's pretty much a collection of shacks, a couple of large caravan parks and basic amenities. If you are thinking of heading this way at this time of year, make sure you book a site or villa in advance as they fill pretty quickly. The caravan parks are almost an attraction in themselves as you find yourself wondering how some of the massive rigs get towed anywhere, let alone round Australia! What's also amazing is that some people spend a lot of time and money to get here, only to set up the satellite dishes and stay inside their caravans watching daytime tv. For those of you reading this from the UK, Australian daytime tv is even worse than yours.

Tomorrow is going to be a long drive to Pardoo Station (another 800km+ day), and the current forecast across the Pilbara is not great, although the final destination of Broome is looking good.