Coral Bay

Day 8 Carnarvon to Coral Bay: We checked out the Carnarvon farmer’s market, which we’d heard was famous for fruit smoothies. The fresh produce was gorgeous – and amazing prices—but we all pronounced the mango smoothie to be underwhelming. The Dutch mini pancakes and the homemade fruit jams and chutneys, on the other hand, were superb.

The drive to Coral Bay was mercifully short and we managed to find a roadside spot for our picnic that did not have hordes of flies. No picnic table or shade, but we’d settle for anything as long as there were no flies. Very impressed to see a cyclist going past, with a reclining cycle rigged up with a long thin awning to provide shelter from the sun and all his equipment strung up carefully in front or behind. It was also exciting to cross into the Tropic of Capricorn - particularly for Rio, our 'biggest, longest, furthest' superlative lover.

Our first view of the bay did not disappoint; the water is perhaps even more green and stunning than at Shark Bay. After checking into our resort, we wasted no time in getting down to the beach to try out the snorkelling on the famed Ningaloo Reef. It was recommended that we walk up the beach a ways and then float back down towards the main area, because there is a strong current from the south west. We tried that, but Rio was having some troubles with his snorkel and didn’t want to go too far out of his depth so we let ourselves drift back into the main part of the bay and that’s when we found the amazing coral.

The next two days can be summed up in three words: snorkel, snorkel, snorkel. Coral Bay is aptly named, with rich and varied coral beds from shallow all the way out to quite deep. The north end of the bay is also aptly named, Skeleton beach, as it is home to a reef shark nursery. You are not allowed to snorkel there but you can walk there and stand in the shallow waters to observe the sharks. Our first visit there was in the late afternoon and the light made it difficult to see much more than one little shark. Today we went back with the kids in the early afternoon, and it was teeming with sharks, all swimming very close to shore and putting on a great display for us. Rio was brave, putting his goggles on and sticking his face right into the water, but retreating when the sharks showed any signs of wanted to observe him as closely as he was observing them. The manta rays were also plentiful and putting on a good show right near the water’s edge. Sadly the photos were only from the day when it was hard to see the sharks (okay, maybe you can't see them in that photo below at all! Sorry) - we didn't bring the camera the second time. They were there, I promise!

We snorkeled a lot right from the beach here, but decided also to take a snorkelling tour in a boat to see species that we hadn’t experienced in the bay. The boat tour fulfilled that wish, as we got to swim with some gorgeous turtles and then saw three humpbacked whales on the way back. The boat trip itself was a bit like an amusement park ride, as the tour guide decided to make it exciting for us by doing sharp turns for no good reason and looking for the biggest waves to get the boat off the ground. He kept it within the bounds of reason, though, so we all enjoyed the thrill without getting sea sick. There were also some different fish from what we had seen closer in, and the coral was more elaborately coloured and shaped. It’s sad to see the dead coral in the bay, but it seems as though most of it is alive and thriving so the conservation program must be fairly successful.

Another cool event was the fish feeding. The Department for Environment and Conservation (DEC) are doing their best to keep marine life entertaining while still protecting it from excessive human interest. At 3:30 each day they bring out a bucket of fish food and they give kids handfuls to hand out to the fish that seem to know what time it is instinctively. There are some really large fish who come to get their free food, and they are quite happy to jump up out of the water to grab for it, which the kids find both exciting and a little scary. The fish come thick and fast and they brush right past the people standing in the shallow water. Quite a show.

We also enjoyed another fabulous fresh seafood meal – at least, Rio and I did (Coral Bay snapper for Rio and tiger prawns and crab for me). Sol and Chris went for vegetarian options at Fin’s Cafe.  Given the up-close-and-personal experiences with the fish, I’m starting to wonder whether I should stop eating the little critters as well...

I continue to be amused at how Aussies like to shorten all their words. This morning when I returned my wetsuit, the man at the rental booth said, ‘oh yeah, you’re the wettie lady!’ If I’d just landed here and heard that, I might have been offended, but I think I'm used to it enough now to realize that it's not an insult. 

Leaving Coral Bay, Chris was very interested in the massive termite mounds. I don't really share his excitement, perhaps because I had seen similar mounds in Africa, but the up-close photos are surprisingly cool.