🌴💙💙💙💙💙💙 CORAL BAY 💙💙💙💙💙💙 🌴

7 nights in Coral Bay

The whole premise of this trip was based upon our love of the Ningaloo Reef and coastline. Andy and I visited Coral Bay twice in 2008 & 2009, back in our SCUBA diving heyday. And we always wanted to come back with the kids and share it with them. And so we started to plot and plan a great big WA itinerary around Coral Bay. 

And here we are, back after 16 years. I will not lie to you, leaving Gnaraloo was really hard, we had an amazing time there - so laid back and chilled out. And I was pretty apprehensive about what we were going to find when we reached Coral Bay - how much has it changed? How is the reef?

 Off to the beach at Coral Bay

Coral Bay is exceptional and special as it's very close to the fringing Ningaloo Reef (unlike the Great Barrier Reef which is a full day trip off the coast), and you can step off the sand and into beautiful coral gardens...or you used to be able to.

Once we had checked in and set up we headed to the beach to check it out. Things have definitely changed and my heart just about broke on my first snorkel to see all the coral dead, covered with weed and algae and sand. Dead. I did not see a single living coral on that first snorkel. Andy asked me how it was, and I just couldn't speak. I know coral reefs are in trouble everywhere due to climate change, and that the Ningaloo had experienced a huge bleaching event this year, estimated to affect 70-80% of the reef. This was not the story here in Coral Bay however.

A couple of years ago a tropical low, part of a cyclone, sat off the bay for about a week, coinciding with the annual coral spawning. All the coral spawn was blown back on shore rather than out to sea, and smothered the corals, blocking sunlight which the corals symbiotic assistants require for photosynthesis. It killed thousands of fish as well. It would have devastated this community whose industry and income is reliant on a healthy reef.

The other significant change (and to be fair 16 years is a long time) is that the old Coral Bay Hotel and affiliated accommodation has been demolished for the development of a new fancy resort. I'm sure it will create a lot of jobs, but the old pub had great character.

Our sadness about the reef and nostalgia about the pub were tough pills to swallow after leaving amazing Gnaraloo earlier that day. 

Don't worry, this isn't a sad story. It does get better.

Our first full day in Coral Bay had us running errands and some admin for upcoming bookings and experiences. We went down to the beach for sunset over sea, and to the "new" pub in town for dinner.

And please don't worry - this is still an amazingly beautiful place

 Getting ready to snorkel

Day 2 - Whale sharks

James and I have been booked onto the Whale shark Safari tour with Coral Bay Eco Tours since January - it might have been the first thing I booked. We were so excited.

 James and on the whaleshark boat

 In our gear ready for the whale sharks

The day started at 7:15 for a bus transfer to the boat that would take us outside the reef to find the whale sharks. It also included 2 snorkels inside the reef, one before (I think mostly for people and the crew to assess abilities and gear issues) and one after the whale shark interaction.

The first snorkel at The Ridge was pretty simple, a drift along a coral ledge with lots of fish, and beautiful HEALTHY coral.

 James and I goofing off - taken by the amazing professional underwater photographer on board - thanks Laura

The spotter planes went up about 10:30 and by 11:30 the first whale shark had been spotted. It was ON. While the whole day was run really well, the combination of excited punters trying to get their gear on, a speeding boat and a large swell, came together to create an atmosphere of organised chaos.

We were so pumped. No briefing in the world can prepare you for the reality of being dropped in the deep blue sea with the biggest fish in any ocean.

The operator had a no-camera policy on the first swim which I think is a great idea, while we all got used to how it all worked. And how to keep up with these deceptively fast fish, while also maintaining the required distance of 3m at the side and a minimum of 4m from the huge swishing tail. You also are not supposed to swim forward of their pectoral fins so as not to frighten them, or have them mistake your bubbles for food (big ones have mouths 1m wide - gulp).

All up, we had 4 separate swims with 3 different whale sharks - it was phenomenal!

 Professional photos from our day.

 The 3 sharks varied in size from an estimated 6m, up to 8m!

 So stoked! We swam with whale sharks!

On the way back we snorkelled at Blue Maze - nominated in the top ten snorkel sites worldwide according to National Geographic. The site is comprised of lots of interconnected coral bommies and the wildlife was off the charts. We saw green sea turtles as well as an enormous loggerhead turtle.

 Pretty fishes over staghorn coral

What a day! Coral Bay Eco Tours are an amazing outfit and we had an incredible day. The crew were great, the food was plentiful and delicious, there were snacks all day, hot towels for your salty face at the end, and a glass of bubbles (sparkling wine or apple juice, depending on your preference) to toast the day.

 Cheers! 

While James and I whale sharked the day away, Andy and Jemma went on their own boat adventure - a glass bottom boat coral viewing and snorkel. They saw turtles but didn't get to swim with any.

 Dessert for the win

Day 3

Andy had some work to do and spent the first half of the day in the camp kitchen. The kids and I ran some more errands and hung out in the caravan park. We spent a few hours at the beach in the afternoon swimming, paddle boarding and "reading"

 Going for a walk around the bay. The days have been pretty mild - mid to high twenties and the water is about 26C here.

 Blue spotted ray in about 5cm of water. These guys are pretty cute but have a nasty looking barb above their tails.

 "Reading"

 Jem being a goofball

Day 4 - Five Finger Reef

Five finger reef is a snorkel spot about 10km from Coral Bay on a sandy track. The coral here is relatively healthy and abundant. We aired down and made our way along the sandy, very corrugated track. In some spots our little Engel fridge was almost hitting the roof despite being tied down.

 Parked up right on the beach. This was a really fun day. 

We snorkelled our heads off, in and out of the water. We found a turtle cleaning station and a little reef shark cruised past. Jem wasn't too impressed by the shark but was very brave. She loved seeing the turtles.

 Green sea turtle - they are the best. 

 A fantastic day out

 Sand turtle

 So many pretty, colourful fish

 The drive back to Coral Bay is impressive too - up on the sand dunes, right by the ocean. We jammed our Coolcabana down the side of the fridge this time, to minimise its movements.

 Say "turtles". Burger night in the camp kitchen at Coral Bay People's Park.

Day 5 (Sunday 15 June) - Coral Breeze snorkel tour

Originally this was an Andy and Jemma activity, meant for Monday while James and I go and do some SCUBA diving. It looked like the tour would not go ahead on Monday due to lack of numbers, but they could accommodate all four of us on the Sunday. And so we did! Another catamaran cruise with two snorkel stops - first at Turtle Holes and the second at Blue Maze.

 Cruising out  - the wind was cool on the water

Turtle Holes lived up to its name - we saw several turtles here. The conditions were less than perfect though, the site is quite close to the fringing reef with waves coming over due to being quite high tide, there was a lot of surge and the viz was reduced. Jemma got quite cold about 40 minutes into the snorkel so I brought her back to the boat.

Jemma is being exceptionally brave, she is just 10 years old and despite being a very capable swimmer, is quite cautious about jumping off the back of a boat into the ocean. We could see the bottom at this site, but the swim was tiring.

 Big old turtle

The second site we snorkelled was Blue Maze (which James and I snorkelled as part of our whale shark day). Again the conditions were challenging with quite a big, deep-water swim from the boat to the coral bommies. Jemma was apprehensive and shaking before she got in, both from cold and anxiety I think. We got to the first bommie and almost immediately saw a turtle, but her little hand was shaking in mine and I signalled to Andy and James that I was taking her back to the boat. I certainly don't want to force her to do something she is really afraid of. I think under calmer, clearer conditions, she (and we all) would have had a better experience. On our swim back to the boat we saw another turtle close to the surface in the blue water. 

Day 6 - last day in Coral Bay

James and I were booked on a Discover Scuba Diving and Manta Ray interaction with Ningaloo Reef Dive for our final day in Coral Bay. Discover Scuba is an experience that allows people that do not have have a diving certification to try it out. Andy and Jemma were left to their own devices for another day as the tour started at 7:45am to review some details, and didn't get back until 3:30pm.

It also meant that preparation for the next leg of our trip, into Cape Range National Park, would have to wait until the next day.

James was really excited to try Scuba diving and we went through all the theory together. Our dive guide went through it all again before we left for the boat - making sure we understood the most important rule in scuba - never, ever hold your breath. The first dive was at Blue Maze (again), and the plan was to gear up, jump in, swim to the mooring line and slowly descend to about 3m where we each would need to show that we could do 3 scuba skills; clear a flooded mask, remove and replace our regulator, remove, throw away, retrieve and replace our regulator and resume normal breathing. James was able to do all 3 skills but had a terrible time trying to equalise his ears. 

 James on the mooring line

 A cute and very bright parrotfish swimming over the coral

 Coral bommie at Blue Maze

In the end the dive guide and I did a brief dive while James snorkelled just above us. It wasn't ideal and not the experience we had hoped for. He was a bit disappointed afterwards but was keen to give it another go on the afternoon dive. Meanwhile we were headed to where the spotter plane had spied a manta in the shallows. 

 A blurry image of the manta ray we swam with - I could easily upload a photo but this is 'our' manta ray. It was pretty shallow water <5m, and quite close to the shoreline, and on the last snorkel she showed her white belly to us in a glorious barrel roll. These animals are so graceful, and beautiful, and enormous. This one was at least 3m across her wings!

 Happy snorkellers!

Scuba diving is not for everyone and I am so proud of how James handled the whole experience. We made a plan for the second dive with our guide - we would give James 10 minutes to try and equalise and if he was still unable to, we would abandon the dive and join the snorkel group so we didn't miss out. This dive was on Asho's Gap shark cleaning station. It's a very up-and-down dive, dropping to 10m and then back up to 2m to float over the coral - as you might imagine all this up-and-down wreaked havoc with James's ears and we aborted the dive. Luckily we had just arrived at the coral platform where the cleaning station is at roughly the same time as the snorkel group. Our very kind dive guide took our BCDs and weight belts back to the boat allowing us to enjoy the rest as a snorkel. We did see a reef shark, but not being cleaned unfortunately.

It was also the first time I had dived in 15 years. And I think it's safe to say, it's still my happy place. I love flying underwater.

I almost forgot, on the way to the second dive site we saw a tiger shark! It was just cruising in the crystal clear water over the sand - was so cool! And pretty big.

 We had a (nother) amazing day out on the Ningaloo Reef together!

 Just look at that water.

7 nights and 6 days in Coral Bay and we snorkelled, and dived, and snorkelled, and saw so many turtles and beautiful fish and coral, and whale sharks, regular sharks, and manta rays.. We ate out at the tavern and cafe, we went to the bakery, and just enjoyed the slower pace of things in this small village in paradise.

The Ningaloo coast holds a very special place in mine and Andy's hearts and despite a bit of a stuttering start we fell in love with it all over again, this time introducing James and Jemma to this incredible part of the world where the desert meets the reef.

From Coral Bay we will head into Cape Range National Park and Exmouth for the next two weeks continuing our Ningaloo adventure. Leaving will be hard, and sad but I hope that we will be lucky enough to be able to come back again. 

 

Bye bye Coral Bay

Gnaraloo - we love you

THE NINGALOO

Gnaraloo Station – 3 Mile camp (4n) 6-10 June

 

We knew Monkey Mia to Gnaraloo was going to be a long day as we needed to top up with fuel in Denham (again!), which is a slight detour, and do a big grocery top up in Carnarvon. These chores add significant time to an already big day. A 5.5-hour drive quickly turned into an 8-hour day in the car! We had also hoped to replace James’ Port Augusta BigW not-crocs as they had disintegrated fast. James cannot wear thongs, and Carnarvon had no Crocs on offer, not even not-crocs, so he has settled for some cheap reef shoes which we hope will get him to Coral Bay in a few more days.

 Bakery breakfast in Denham after the rapid pack up from Gregories to beat the rain

 Shell Beach conservation park - the water here is hypersaline meaning very few organisms can live here. One of the few are small shelly animals which make up the entire beach.

 More shells than stars in the Milky Way on this beach

We booked Gnaraloo from Monkey Mia after a few false starts. Initially it was pencilled in as a 5-night stop but the rain we got in Francois Peron also hit this region and closed the last 70km of access road for a few days. We kept a close eye in the roads and as soon as it reopened, I called and booked us in for the 4 nights we have until we get to Coral Bay. I am so glad we did.

There was some flood water in a low-lying area as we approached Carnarvon which slowed traffic a little bit in both directions as it was left to driver discretion as to whose turn it was to drive through. I gave way to two road trains creating a big wake before taking my turn to drive through. 

We left Carnarvon just before 2pm on Friday 6 June, and the final 120km took 2hours. It’s a gravel road in reasonable condition and was ‘open with caution’, I think the ‘with caution’ part related to some massive puddles/water over the road in low lying areas most of which had handy chicken runs. The chicken runs slowed us down but means you don’t have to plunge into a puddle of unknown depth or character.

 Finally arriving at Gnaraloo Station and heading to our allocated spot

 Sunrise at Gnaraloo

Anyway, we arrived about 4pm a bit road weary and hungry. The sites at Gnaraloo 3 mile camp are allocated and we are in site 18A just back from the waterfront, and very close to the amenities ( a nice change from the 500m round trip at Monkey Mia!). There are flushing toilets, rubbish bins and recycling, and HOT WATER for showers and washing up. 

And then there’s the location! Situated on the southern end of Ningaloo Reef there is a lagoon full of coral and reef fish and other critters to explore. There are surf breaks. The water is 27C and the daytime temps are in the high 20s-low 30s. Nighttime temps are cool and dry making for perfect camping conditions. By 8pm the campground is dark and very quiet, and people don’t start surfacing until around 7am. We are having some great big sleeps.

 The characteristic red rocky cliffs of Gnaraloo

Gnaraloo is a surfer destination first and foremost but is open to anyone happy to make the 120km detour. As it's not on the way to Exmouth it seems to be off the backpacker trail.

 The Hilton at Gnaraloo -  a bookable shack

 

It was a short walk from our camp site to the lagoon and we spent most of our first day at the beach, in and out of the water, snorkelling our heads off. Even Andy made his swimming debut – the kids could not believe their eyeballs “Dad’s getting in the water?!?!?!?”

 Snorkellers

 Finding clam shells on a beach walk near 3 mile lagoon  These clam shells were everywhere, and as turned out there were lots of living ones right there in the lagoon

I was so excited when I stuck my masked face in the water and immediately saw butterfly fish, damsel fish, brightly coloured wrasse, parrotfish, surgeonfish, colourful clams, scissortails…scores of different kinds of reef fish going about their reef business. Later in the day we saw squid, an octopus and a couple of blue spotted rays. 

The kids loved the fishes and the snorkelling overall. As always there’s a bit faffing around with masks and snorkels, problems with fogging or leaking, fins not fitting etc. James has grown so much that I am wearing his fins, and he is in my adult adjustable ones. He also needs a new mask, I think. Jem is wary and nervous at times and has a habit of grabbing and pinching me. We will find our snorkelling groove in the coming weeks, I am sure.

 Indian Ocean views

 

Day 2 of Gnaraloo saw more of the same. After a pancake breakfast (a family favourite now that I am getting better at the shaker batter) James did some maths work with Andy. I let Jemma off school as she had taken the initiative to befriend a little camp friend – this has been something we have been trying to nurture and encourage as much as possible. James seems to do quite well with his own company, although he misses his close circle of mates from school. Jemma, on the other hand, loves to play with other kids and is an easy going, imaginative playmate. Her current mate is an 8yo from Perth – they meet at a rope swing near the toilet block and swing or climb the trees and chat – very sweet. 

We headed to 3-mile lagoon for some more snorkelling and beach action. Instead of coming back up to the camp site for lunch I brought it all down to the masses which was well received as the kids would rather not trek back and forth if it can be avoided.

The highlight was a reef octopus who stayed put for ages while we floated and flailed around gawking at it as it changed its colour and texture trying to disappear itself in front of our eyes. The reef in the lagoon is not pristine by any stretch but supports a lot of fish – both in diversity and numbers. Some parts are fishier than others and it really is like swimming through a tropical fish tank.

 

 West coast sunsets

We spent our third and final day doing more of the same in the lagoon; snorkelling and walking.

 James walks the beach between his snorkels to warm his bones - we had lots of fun at low tide with masses of tiny hermit crabs in the rock pools

 One of several reef octopus we found in 3 mile lagoon. As I have mentioned, James adores these enigmatic molluscs and seems to have a good eye (and luck) for finding them. On the final snorkel on our last day he saw a blue ringed octopus which is pretty special.

 

Packing up at Gnaraloo was one of the toughest pack ups yet - none of us wanted to leave, it was a plodding, reluctant pack. We also another decent drive ahead of us - 120km back to the highway, and then another 230km north to Coral Bay. There is a shortcut - a track that cuts up the coast from Gnaraloo to Coral Bay that’s about 80km but our road report indicated that a section was still closed, so the long way it must be. 

 Making friends and memories. Jemma and Amanda met at the tree each morning and played the days away

Gnaraloo surprised us. A really basic campground in one of the most beautiful places in Australia - it was hard to leave. But we had a booking to keep in Coral Bay, and whale sharks to swim with.