Sun 14th September – Day 127: Coral Bay

Up early and we crossed the road to Ningaloo Reef Dive who kitted us out with all the gear and we boarded the bus for the local wharf.
The Ningaloo Reef is Australia’s largest fringing coral reef. Over 200 species of soft and hard coral can be found here along with over 500 species of the most decorated and revered tropical fish in the world.
Onto our dive launch, along with 16 others we followed the naturally marked channel up the coast to a deserted bay where we sat in the swells waiting for our spotter plane that they use to find the manta rays.
Once found we were divided into 2 groups (10 at a time), our group was second up and the kids watched nervously as the boat rocked in the swell and drifted with the wind and current. Being the only kids on board, it was stressed that if they couldn’t keep up then they would have to stay dry. At the skippers signal we jumped over the back. I took Chloe and Pete took Toby, each of them also had a noodle to help with flotation. The current was far stronger than we imagined and the Manta took of at high speed with us in full pursuit. To their credit the kids put their heads down, breathed in an out through their snorkels and kicked their hearts out. Chloe & I passed right over the top of a large grey shark (Chloe didn’t bat an eyelid, just kept swimming) and then caught a fleeting glimpse of the ray before it took off again. Back on board the spotter plane had found another one so we raced into position and had another go. This time the ray was stopped over a ‘cleaning station’ (small coral outcrops where small fish reside, coming out onto larger fish to clean their gills, scales etc), just lazily gliding along. We all got a wonderful view of these beautiful, harmless animals, which can have wingspans of up to 6m wide.
Once we had our fill of the Manta rays, we motored to our first dive /snorkel spot. Pete did this dive while I took both kids snorkelling. Holding onto the end of each noodle, I had a child either side and we dived in to be surrounded by huge (50-60cm) snapper that the skipper fed from above. We snorkelled around the coral outcrops and marvelled at the abundant fish. Chloe became so engrossed she let go of the noodle several times and wandered off on her own ‘chasing a colourful fish mum’! 45 mins later we were blue with cold and happily climbed back on board for a dry off and smorgasbord lunch. Pete arrived back 5mins later with tales of snub-tailed stingrays, schools of enormous snapper, brain corals and swimming against strong currents.
After lunch we went to another dive/snorkel spot and it was my turn to dive, something I haven’t done for ages (probably about 4 years or more). I must say I was a little disappointed in the corals which seemed dull and cumbersome compared to some of the coral I have seen elsewhere, but the turtles, trumpet fish, large clams, moray eels and brilliantly coloured fish were highlights.
The kid’s snorkelled with Pete above and tried yelling at me underwater, luckily another diver signalled me and I gave them the ‘OK’.
Back at the dock we had a final highlight when ‘Merv’ the biggest grouper I have ever seen (he was the size of a small dinghy) was spotted under the wharf.
We all arrived back absolutely exhausted and despite the kids rushing off to play soccer, they were back within 10mins (just too tired). ‘Best & Worst’ over dinner that night was a resounding, “The entire day was best, nothing was worst”.
Bayview Coral Bay Caravan park ($33/night)