Coral Bay (3 nights)

Coral Bay is another good base for enjoying the Ningaloo.  The town consists of several camping grounds, hotels, a backpacker hostel and dive/tour businesses and a handful of shops.  On the first day there we snorkelled off the beach and Enzo and I hired a glass bottom canoe and went for a paddle in the bay.  The second day we went out on a boat called Utopia, it was AMAZING to snorkel closer to the reef where it is deeper and the coral structures are more dramatic.  At the first spot we were lucky enough to see two turtles, one sleeping and one swimming through the coral eating algae; we also saw six grey reef sharks feeding.  The next stop was to swim with the Manta Rays, we swam with Isobella, she had a wingtip to wingtip span of 4m, amazing to cruise along with her as she fed.  Finally we snorkelled at another impressive site, we saw a cuttlefish, a yellow stingray with blue spots and many other awesome creatures.  On the trip back to shore we saw turtles swimming around the boat.  The photos below were taken by out guide on the day and provided to us on CD, much better than the ones we took on our cheapie.

Green sea turtle

turtle again

surgeon fish and others

this picture shows the scale of Isobella against a human

Isobella the Manta

Grey reef sharks

We were camped in the older part of a camping ground where the sandy aisles between the rows of  sites were narrow and the sites themselves were compact, obviously designed for the era when caravans were little and cute.  This set-up made for free entertainment when people arrived in their SUVs towing very long luxury caravans.  Accessing the sites involved directions being shouted by the female, the male trying to understand what she was saying, tempers flaring and domestic issues resulting.  Some people travel with their dogs, generally little yappy ones, but here in Coral Bay I saw a couple travelling with their two cats.  They must hang out in the caravan during the day but first thing in the morning they put them on long leads so they could get some exercise, it was very weird!  The kids liked this campsite as there were heaps of kids (including screaming babies in the middle of the night!!!) to play with and a jumping pillow!

The munch bunch on the boat