Australia 2014: Coral Bay

Day 14 – August 2, 2014 – Coral Bay - distance travelled: 0 kms - 29^oC high; 13^oC low. At 9 am we met at the tour ticket office beside the caravan park to get fitted with snorkelling gear. A shuttle bus then took us to our tri-hulled boat (for more stability), appropriately named the “Ningaloo”. Our group was comprised of 14 people, a nice size. All of us opted to use a wetsuit which was a wise decision as the water temperature was not exactly tropical. We snorkelled for half an hour on the outer reef where we saw (not very colourful) coral, colourful fish and a turtle, and we saw dolphins close to the boat while heading further out where manta rays usually swim. The boat uses a spotter plane which locates manta rays from the air and the boat then goes to that location. Unfortunately for us the wind was apparently blowing from the wrong direction, causing the manta rays to go further out into the ocean, and no manta rays were spotted. We went snorkelling again, this time a guided snorkel where we followed a guide and floated with current. After that the boat went out further and we spotted – as we had hoped – whales; very impressive. Meanwhile the boat crew was making sure we were not going hungry, feeding us mid-morning snacks and then a lunch. We stopped off at the “Canyon” for one last snorkel, where there were lots of fish, one turtle and quite a bit of current in places. Ian and Jordan opted out of this snorkel as they didn’t like the prospect of getting wet and cold again. Overall we all really enjoyed the snorkelling, especially the variety of fish and the turtles, and were also happy to finally have seen whales in the wild. The boat was back at the dock just after 3 pm, which gave us time for another dip in the pool (which somehow seemed much colder than the day before) and for exploration of the “shopping centre” across the street (about five little stores including a grocery store) where we enjoyed a very reasonably priced Paddle Pop. After supper more blog work and then off to bed.