Coral Bay & Exmouth/Whale Sharks

My next drive took me 250km north of Canarvon to Coral Bay. It's a very small town/settlement with just 2 caravan parks, a resort, a backpackers, and a few houses. And it's right on Ningaloo Reef.

On my first night I had a delicious dinner of freshly caught snapper. My neighbour had been fishing with her husband, and caught 3 big ones. It was the first time she'd ever cast a line so was pretty happy to share her spoils. I was impressed with her efforts, and very happy to enjoy the rewards with a (squeeze of lemon).

The next morning as I took to the water I realised just how plentiful the fish were here...

The reef is right there with no boats needed to reach it, there's loads to be seen with just a snorkel set. I knew the snapper came in close to the shore looking for food each day, but no one had warned me about the sting rays! I'd been in the water only a minute before I almost stood on the first one, then I noticed the sneaky little buggers were everywhere! They hide just under the sand but you can make out their outline when your foot is almost on top of them.

The weather for the last few weeks of the trip has been great. An average of 24 degrees most days, but there have been a few rainy days in among them. It's interesting to see how everyone 'survives' the rain. With so many different types of accommodation, from massive caravans, to smaller poptops, campers and tents, some of us do it much better than others. Between myself and 2 of my neighbours we had exchanged a number of films, so some time to catch up on movies filled in a rainy day nicely!

My second to last night in Coral Bay was one of my favourite so far. My closest neighbours were leaving the next day so we had a little farewell party at their van, and it was just a really lovely bunch of people with all different stories from their travels to tell.

My next move was to Exmouth, 150km north of Coral Bay. You can imagine my smile as I got close and saw this....

The BIG Prawn, Exmouth, WA

Exmouth is a much bigger town than Coral Bay, the place to fill up with petrol and restock with groceries.  I stayed at the Lighthouse Caravan Park about 20km out of town, much cheaper than in town, and comparatively quiet.

It's this stop in my trip though that'll be one I will NEVER forget. Let me start by saying that I'm not a fan of swimming in the ocean in water that is above my head. I've had a phobia of sharks since I was about 5 years old and in the charge of my brothers who had me sit and watch Jaws. So it was with much that trepidation that I booked in to go snorkelling with Whale Sharks!!!!!

The night/day before it was all I could think about, with an equal measure of excitement and nerves.

On the boat I met a couple of English girls, Tara & Steph who did their best to reassure me about the swim. I think the words 'Oh just bloody get on with it' or similar were used. It worked though. When we made our first stop on the inner part of Ningaloo Reef we jumped in for a snorkel to get warmed up, and quite incredibly I was one of the first in the water. We saw some beautiful fish and a big sting ray in warm clear water. I wasn't particularly happy to raise my head at one point to hear Steph yell out 'oh there's a shark down there, it's just a wee one though'. It was a tawny shark, and it WASN'T bloody 'wee'!

Anyway, I survived to take to the water again when the first whale shark was spotted when we reached the outer reef.

This is NOT one of the ones we spotted, but hopefully when I get the video back I can show you the ones we saw. But it gives you an idea of what they look like.

They can get up to 20 meters and weigh 34 tonnes, but what we saw were typically sized ones. Around 7 metres. They feed on plankton, so I knew I should be okay, but I did take 5 minutes the night before to google 'shark attacks in Exmouth'. Only 1 this year.

Along the way I also spotted my first humpback whale! Actually, we saw a number of them, plus a dugong.

Bottom line is, today I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Swimming alongside this amazing fish was something I'll never forget.

Tonight I think I shall spend throwing up sea water.

Simple Stats:

Days since departure: 63
Distance travelled: 6598 km
Kangaroos hit: 0
Whale sharks snorkelled with: 2