Tag Archives: Coral Bay

Who wants to swim with Whale Sharks?

Posted on by

Last year we vow, in Arnie’s immortal words, “we’ll be back” – and nine months and one bout of Covid (me) later, we are. Our favourite WA destination has to be Coral Bay on the Ningaloo Reef. You can read about last year’s adventures of swimming with Manta Rays and being entertained by Humpback whales and graceful Manta Rays in my blog Good times with the mega fauna, so I won’t repeat myself. NB – it is worth reading, or re-reading.

The Ningaloo Reef is both not as readily accessible as the Great Barrier Reef and also more accessible. Ningaloo is remote: Perth, the most remote city on Earth, more or less, is 1,200kms (745 miles) south, so it’s not a day trip. Conversely, as a fringing reef it grows within a few metres of the shore – you can literally snorkel from the shore, where Great Barrier needs a boat trip. Ningaloo is one of the longest near-shore reefs in the world with over 300 species of coral, but if you expect lurid colours you will be disappointed – mostly it is grey/brown, but the size of the formations is impressive. Fish, 500 species on fact, are everywhere and all the rainbow of usual suspects abound: Parrotfish, Butterflyfish, Angelfish, Nemo lookalikes, and bigger species including reef sharks and turtles are at ease in the marine sanctuary. (underwater photos all by @elle_gillett)

Now, like many my age, I carry the trauma of the movie Jaws deep in my psyche. I can’t hear da dum………da dum……..da dum da dum da dum music without my sphincter tightening ever so slightly, so it’s big thing for me to go to the deep water. To swim with the Humpback and Whale Sharks however, you need to take a trip outside the reef to much deeper water. I’m not a natural snorkeler but I remember last year’s magic time with the Humpback whales and Manta rays. Yet, Whale sharks are less whale and more shark as they do not need to come up for air, but engage in constant motion as a shark. Like Lady MacBeth, but without the knife, I screw my courage to the sticking place and off we go.

last year’s trip – humpbacks showing off

This experience is nothing short of spectacular. We snorkel inside the reef then move out through the gap in the coral to open water. A couple of Humpbacks come along to amuse us, but we are here for bigger things. The skipper motors about 20 nautical miles (37kms) up the coast before the spotter plane calls and guides us to the appropriate area. As with the swims last year our guides divide us into two groups – no more than 10 to a group and we are a boat of 18.

The first 10 swimmers get the call to go in while the rest of us sit ready, heart pounding in my case, on the marlin board (platform at the stern of the boat). The skipper positions the boat ahead and off to the side of the Whale shark: Slide in and swim right!  the call comes and off we go. Next thing, coming straight at us is the most awe inspiring and beautiful sight, a 7-8 metre spotty beast, lazily moving through the water.

I quickly turn in the same direction the Whale Shark is moving and try to stay abreast of the pectoral fin. It is swimming slowly enough to keep up without too much effort. Eventually the guide calls for us to stop and re-group and the boat comes back to pick us up. We repeat the process and see three different Whale Sharks in all – it’s hard to stop smiling.

And harder to haul yourself out of the water for the 4th time in half and hour – note to self, work on upper body strength. I bet Lady MacBeth wouldn’t have any problems.

Everyone is buzzing after a close encounter with one of the giants of the ocean, and the day gets even better as we motor back to base. Dolphins come and perform and ride along and then, back inside the reef, two more Humpback whales arrive alongside. The skipper and crew tell us it is extremely rare to find them inside the reef, and we are in only 10 metres of water. They hang around for ages and come up close to the boat several times. All we need now is Aquaman and a few mermaids and on a day like this, anything’s possible.

And then, because nothing is ever perfect, three days later Scott tests positive for Covid. We find out two of the crew are also now in isolation. Just proves it – you catch Covid from Whale Sharks.

Not just swimming with big fish – but that is the best bit

Posted on by

As much as we are enjoying the reef and our snorkeling trips, there is plenty else to do on the Coral Coast. A couple of days in Exmouth mean we can drive around into the Cape Range National Park and take a river boat trip up the Yardie Creek. This quiet cruise shows us the spectacular colours and beauty of this rugged gorge, and we see a number of the local black-footed rock wallaby. they are quite hard to spot against the cliffs until our guide points them out.

the black-footed rock wallaby’s colour is good camouflage against the rocky cliffs

The rugged limestone range that gives Cape Range its name runs down the western border of the Exmouth peninsula. The river gorge only hints at the extensive cave and canyon system that runs through and under the range itself. And, of course, on the Indian Ocean coast are stunning beaches with the northern end of the Ningaloo reef providing more options for water activities.

Exmouth exists because in 1963 the US Navy negotiated the lease of land for a naval communications station to provide very low frequency (VLF) transmission to ships and submarines in the western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans. The station and town came into being in 1967, with the town providing accommodations for the US families working at the station. Thirteen tall radio towers lend a mysterious air to the tip of the peninsula, six kilometres north west of the town, as we drive to Yardie Creek.

Back in Coral Bay there is the opportunity to satisfy our inner bogan tendencies driving over sandy territory. We take a side by side, rather than a quad bike, as neither of us is a good pillion passenger. I take the wheel for the outward journey and quickly realise the block under the accelerator is designed to tame my inner bogan. Still, its heaps of fun bashing over the sand dunes, drifting around corners and along the slightly more difficult to access beaches. We arrive at a lookout in time to watch the sun sink over the Indian ocean in its usual stunning colours.

ready to rumble

We also take the Landcruiser on a few drives up the coast. This usually involves dropping the tyre pressures to 18-20 psi over the sandy terrain, but I retain terminal horror at the thought of being bogged in the middle of nowhere, dying of thirst and being eaten by termites. The compressor is getting a lot of use reinflating tyres at the end of each foray into the unknown. The reward is in the outstanding coastal views and complete lack of people who could help out in an emergency!

about 40kms north of Coral Bay

But the best part is back in the water. We love our first Manta swim so much we sign up for another, hoping but not expecting it to be better. And it is. By a factor of, I don’t know, a lot. Our run of luck is still going strong as again we get stunning weather. Not only that, but the water is crystal clear, much clearer than last week, and as the mantas favour sandy areas the viz is great. At times we are only a couple of metres above them. Again, it is mesmerising, and as they are swimming relatively slowly we can easily keep up and follow them for some time.

Scott the fishboy swimming with mantas

We find three manta in a mating chain. A mating chain happens when the males encounter a receptive female and they start to follow her. Yes, if this were humans we would be feeling icky. There can be up to 20 or so males following in a well ordered line behind her, and all the time she is assessing their fitness for mating. She may swoop and dive and leap out of the water then race off and quite literally, the last manta swimming gets to mate with her. Mating chains can go on for days as the weaker males drop out. It must be getting down to the wire when we see them as the larger female has only two suitors following. Some manta is going to get lucky soon.

And so ends our wonderful three weeks on the Coral Coast. This is definitely a place to visit, and to linger and enjoy. We snorkel and/or swim off the beach every day, and every day see something different. The weather is sublime, though it is now getting a little hot for us as it is over 30C every day.

We now embark on the final month of this journey which will end in Perth. Further to the last blog, Air NZ has already changed our flights. We still arrive home on the 18th October, but now have a day flight and arrive in the evening, rather than an overnighter.

For those who like flowers and aren’t sick of seeing Mulla Mulla

acres of Mulla Mulla
and the white version of Sturts Desert Pea
don’t know what these are, but they are everywhere

And for the map lovers, the same map applies

Good times with the mega fauna

Posted on by

If there is a more perfect place than Coral Bay, I’d like to know where it is.

half tide at Coral Bay

Here’s why: pristine white sand; crystal clear water that is bluer than you’ve ever seen; a reef a few metres from the shore, meaning not only great snorkeling to see corals and reef fish, but also calm waters; a very small, blissfully under-developed holiday town (permanent population about 300) that’s nothing more than a couple of caravan parks, a hotel, two cafes and a few tour operators variously offering diving, fishing, snorkelling, off-roading trips.

The world heritage listed Ningaloo reef is the world’s largest fringing reef: it extends 300 kms along the west coast from Carnarvon to Exmouth. It is possible to stop pretty much anywhere along here, grab your snorkel and fins and be swimming over the reef within a few metres. At least 250 different species of coral are here and, in total, represent over 50% of the Indian Ocean’s entire coral life. 

Where to start? It has to be with our first trip outside the reef to swim with the humpback whales. Thousands of these whales migrate north from Antartica along the west coast of Australia for mating and calving in warmer waters, and return south for the summer feeding grounds. So there are humpbacks passing by between June and the end of October. Sadly, my lack of planning means we arrive in early September after the whale-sharks have headed off.

However we strike it lucky with the humpbacks. After a couple of half hour snorkels over the beautiful corals on the outer reef, we wait for the spotter plane to call in a sighting. He sees a mother and her calf and we are off to meet them. Rules apply, and the calf must be at least half the size of the mother for us to go in with them, and adult whales can be 20 metres long. Our guides divide us into two swimming groups and we are group two – damn, I think, she may be gone before we get in. The first 7 swimmers get the call to go in and only a couple see her before she dives. In group two, we sit tense and ready on the swimming platform: Swim! the call comes and without hesitation we slide into the water, swimming in the direction our guide indicates. Look down, she shouts. I do, and immediately gasp/screech into my snorkel – the mother and calf swim a couple of metres below me, she bears a fleet of ramora (suckerfish), stark white against her grey-black skin. My thoughts race from Amazing! this can’t be real to, I hope she doesn’t come up under me right now! The following pic is a hazy screen grab from a go-pro video one of the other swimmers took – but you get the idea!

our humpback mum and calf with ramora getting a free ride

We think that’s it, but the plane calls in a pod heading south. We find them quickly and the spotter pilot says he counts 8 or 9. The boat follows them from the prescribed distance of 100 metres, though at times they close the distance towards us and put on a show I’d happily pay to see again. Breaching, rolling and waving pectoral fins, showing off their flukes. Apparently breaching is unusual behaviour as it’s a high-energy demand: a full breach needs the whale to break through the water’s surface at its top speed of 28km/h. We follow them at 4-5 knots for at least an hour and it is riveting. Apologies if you have seen these photos on my Insta @bevzac56 but it was so exciting I can’t help adding them in here.

waving, not drowning
No known reason for breaching, it takes a lot of energy so it must just be for fun.

We think that day will be hard to beat, but then we go out on another trip to find Manta Rays. Again a couple of snorkels on the outer reef first. These are wonderful as it is a low tide and so parts of the reef are in shallow water and the sunlight illuminates the fish and coral. We swim over massive cabbage flower corals through which hundreds of little iridescent fish swim; watch parrot fish nibble the coral; watch turtles swim to the surface to take a breath of air before sinking back down, lazily paddling their flippers. We stop at the shark cleaning station where grey and white tipped reef sharks come by and have cleaner fish nibble the parasites from their skin. With my advanced fish identification skills I mis-identify a large grey fish as a shark.

low tide at the outer reef – the clarity of the water is superb

Then the party starts – again a spotter plane, this time looking for the ballet dancers of the ocean, huge Manta Rays. These graceful diamond shaped rays are really smart (biggest brain to body ratio of any fish), have no sting or barb posing no threat to humans, and are filter feeders. They can grow to have a seven metre wingspan and weigh a couple of tonnes. this time we are in three groups, again we are number two. the spotter finds a beautiful large manta, about 4-5 metres in wingspan, and we rotate through the groups quickly. Group one swims until the manta has moved beyond them and by then the boat has moved ahead and group two drops in, then the skipper picks up group one, drops group three, picks up two, drops one etc etc. We have four swims and the final two are breathtaking, lasting what seems like ages but which in reality is probably five minutes, if that. Like a big blanket floating through the air, the manta undulates and glides, searching for food. It is mesmerising.

So we get to swim with two out of three of the mega fauna that frequent these waters, and and in the immortal words of Meatloaf, two out of three ain’t bad.