We really enjoyed Coral Bay which is a tiny town about 60km south of Exmouth. There are two caravan parks and a small resort plus a few shops and some holiday homes - and that's about it! The thing about Coral Bay is you can walk across the road from your accommodation onto the beach and then swim straight out over the coral reef in a protected bay! Magic!
We stayed for 5 days and it was unfortunately quite windy but we got a couple of good beach days in and met a lovely family from Perth - Jacinta and Rick with their 3 gorgeous daughters - Sasha (8), Chelsea (6) and Chloe (2). This is where Jess finally came out of her shell and started playing with other kids and she hasn't looked back! We caught up with these guys later in Perth where Rick took us out on his boat for a cruise up the Swan River which was lovely!
We also ran into a 9 yr old boy, Lleyton who we had met in the pool back in Broome! He was from Melbourne and was travelling around with his Dad, Rohan. We ended up travelling on to Monkey Mia and Kalbarri with them which was good fun! And very helpful as that was when we had car troubles and Rohan gave Phil a hand and pottered along behind us - more on this later...
Now for some snorkelling photos! We brought an simple underwater camera but were not overly successful with our photography so I've only included the better ones. You will notice that a lot of the coral is dead which is apparently due to a problem with the coral spawning back in 2002. This was disappointing after growing up in FNQ and snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef but the fish were still beautiful and being able to access the reef directly off the beach was great.
Ningaloo Reef at Turquiose Bay, Cape Range National Park
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| This one looked cool! I think it is a leatherjacket |
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| Convict surgeon fish |
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| Some colour! |
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| We found Gill!! |
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| The colours of the fish were amazing, perhaps more so due to the plain background.... |
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| Jack and I had a great time snorkelling together |
Every afternoon they fed hordes of huge pink snapper in ankle deep water off the beach at Coral Bay. You could snorkel right among them which Jack loved. Phil thought it was fun to through pellets right near my head so they would swarm me while I tried to take photos! We went on the 'SubSea Explorer' which is a type of glass bottom boat and learnt lots about the fish and coral from our guide. Jack and I braved the windy weather for a snorkel - but not for long!
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| Now this is a better view! |
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| Jacinta helping with the constructions! |
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| Each child had their own sand apartment! |
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| Jess and Lleyton, Jack and Sasha on some blow up chairs donated by a wedding party - after Lleyton chased one all |
Fish feeding with Jacinta, Rick and girls
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| Getting swarmed by pink snapper! |
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| It was a pity Phil and Jack's trip on this fishing boat was cancelled due to the wind! Jack may have finally caught some fish! |
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| This pink snapper followed along with the Sub Sea Explorer Loved this clip of Jess talking to 'Big fella' |
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| Scissor fish |
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| Amazing colours in this clam |
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| A blue spotted stingray! |
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| Sea urchins hiding under the rocks at 5 Finger Reef |
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| Beautiful starfish |
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| Add caption |
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| Imagine what it would have been like when all the coral was alive... |
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| Setting out with Rohan and Lleyton |
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| Yay - you made it! |
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| Jetty at Coral Bay - you can't fish from here... |
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| More amazing views! |
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| That's a long way down - and up!! Come on Jack! |
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| Having a rest halfway! |
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| But another great view on the other side! |
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| One of the five fingers... We went snorkelling in the little bay while they fished - what a lovely day! |
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| Nature really is beautiful! |
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