Coral Bay

part 2 of our holiday.

coral bay is a rather unexciting little beach village. it consists of a resort (i use the term loosely) where we stayed (8 room hotel, stand alone lodges, caravan park and camp ground for tents), a small "shopping centre" (tours, dive shop, grocery place, cafe), a gas station, another "hotel" and another "shopping arcade" (food store, cafe, surf shop, tour operators). that is it. you can walk the road from tip to tip in about 5 minutes if you're doing a lazy saunter (ry, it would take you 30s!). each "hotel" has a small restaurant which will gouge you if you buy food there, and one of the hotels has a small bottle shop (liquor store) which will do the same.

there is however, something kind of nice about going away, and sincerely being away from it all. coral bay is approximately 13 hours north of perth (with no stops). it is completely isolated. the next "major" place is exmouth, which is another 1.5 hour drive north and is at the othe tip of the reef. we didn't get up there...had enough driving for a one week vacation already.

coral bay is on the southern point of the ningaloo reef. ningaloo reef has recently been declared a world heritage area because it is host to thousands of species of fish, turtles, sharks, rays, whales and other such marine life. it is significantly smaller then the great barrier reef, but we are told that it is no less spectacular. it is also significantly less touristy. the reef is considered to be the largest most accessible reef around. by most accessible it means that you don't need a boat to enjoy it. you can grab your snorkel gear and walk down to the water and get right in. i think that the reef starts about 50m off the shore.

the downside of being a completely isolated location is that things cost a lot. like the tours that they run. some spectacular sounding tours to see/swim with the whale sharks, snorkel with the rays and turtles, go up the coast a bit more, etc. being the fiscally sound people that we are, we opted to rent out own snorkel gear on the first day for the bargain price of 5$ for 4 hours. the water was cold enough that you didn't stay in for more then 1 hour at a time before you got the chills, so a 4hr rental worked.

on the first day, we rented snorkel gear and walked off the beach to the reef. it was getting windy by the time we headed out (we were on vacation after all. no need to get up at the crack of dawn) so the water was a bit murkier then expected. but we still managed to see some beautifully coloured fish. we snorkelled for 1 hour or so, then headed back the beach to warm up and eat some lunch. then we hit up the reef one more time before the gear was due. a nice first day in the sun.

the next day we decided on a guided kayak tour to the outer reef. the tour ran about 2.5 hours or so and was much more reasonably priced. and well, we like to be active. we hoped onto our plastic, two-man kayak and paddled out to the mooring where we tied up the kayaks. we had wetsuits for this tour, thank goodness, as we were in the water for over 1.5 hours straight. i was still freezing in my wetsuit... the guide took us through some pretty amazing sections of the reef. we managed to see 5-6 turtles, some rays, reef sharks (and i didn't even panic...much) and loads of wonderful fish. i even attempted to dive down a bit to see the turtles close up. but i'm not the strongest diver with a snorkel in my mouth, so the pic didn't work :(

the next day we did a bit of a walk down the beach to an area where reef sharks like to hang out. the walk down there was a little challenging at times and i kept getting frustrated that we had walked so far and i couldn't see fins yet. but not to worry! just as we were thinking of turning around, we saw them. dozens of them. baby reef sharks, yes, but sharks nonetheless. we stood ankled deep in the water and there were sharks about 2 meters from us. dozens of them. 2 meters from us. john ventured a bit deeper then i did, but not much more then 1/2 the height of his shins. the thing that scared me the most, aside the dozens of sharks, is the fact that even though they were no deeper then 1m in the water, you couldn't see their fins! i have always assumed (hoped?) that if a shark came into shallow water, fins were par for the course. but no. so mental note to me: sharks can get a lot closer to you then i thought.

we spent the rest of our time doing nothing. really. we found a good spot on the beach where we were blocked from the wind, laid the towels down and relaxed. did a lot of reading, a lot of sunning (with a hat and sunblock, of course) and overall, a lot of lazing. much needed. much enjoyed. usually by 4pm we were knackered, so we'd head home, clean up and sit on the patio for the rest of the night with our books, or a drink or both. thankfully we had a kitchenette in our room, so we were able to make our own dinners and snacks. couldn't as for a better set up, really.

sunday morning we took off from the resort at 5:50am so as not to get home too late. we weren't 100% sure of the time to travel because we'd done it in chunks last time. the first few hours of driving were a bit sketchy because the kangaroos, random sheep, goats and cows like to play on the highway at dawn. handy travel tip in australia #3: kangaroos don't get scared off the road if you honk. instead, they turn right at you and jump in front of you car. (eileen, i thought you'd appreciate that we tried honking though). a farmer later told us that the 'roos get scared ONTO the highway instead of off. stupid marsupials.

we managed to avoid hitting about 5 kangaroos, schools of sheep, goats and cows and after we hit carnarvon again, it was smooth sailing. long, empty roads all the way home. we made good time, even though we took a bit of a detour when we neared perth and drove in along the coast instead of inland. we were wiped when we got in, and both had to get back to real life early the next morning but it was worth it. overall, a wonderful trip. i'd recommend coral bay and ningaloo reef to anyone looking to relax and enjoy the sun.

xo