Woken early today by people in a rush to leave , but we resisted , finally getting up at 7:30 - another good nights sleep - must be all this swimming / snorkelling .
I got organised for my snorkelling / nature tour which left at 9:15 from the front of the park . David was also doing the tour , so we both had someone to talk to . Into the bus at 9:20 and down to the boat ramp to get onto Ningaloo 3 - our cruise boat . After the brief safety talk - if you need to escape the vessel , put your life jackets on and take the exit to the - - - wherever you can get out !! The water was crystal clear , a change from yesterday as the wind hadn’t picked up yet . I sat out the front and saw a turtle in front of us , then some coral banks and fish .
We stopped after about 15 mins and went for our first snorkel - about 30 mins . They gave us wet suits to use , which was nice , as it got a bit cool after that amount of time in the water . Fish everywhere , all types and sizes , I spotted a fish cleaning station at one coral outcrop , and watched as several fish came and got cleaned by the cleaner wrasse . We saw a black tipped reef shark , dolphins and several turtles . There were all types of coral as well and was a good warm up for what was to come . Back in the boat and off to our second destination .
The colour of the water was amazing , different colours indicating the depth and whether it was sandy or coral beds , just beautiful .
The boat slowed and they hussled us into readiness , the dive chief slipped in the water and gave the all clear for us to follow slowly , which we did quickly . The area we were in was sandy with no coral to be seen , excellent vision for what was out there in front of us - we were swimming beside a Manta Ray !! These creatures would have to be one of the most graceful in the oceans , with a mere flap of their wings they propel themselves through the water with ease . Apparently they can reach speeds of 70klms an hour , quite remarkable !! We swam with it for what seemed an eternity - probably only 10 mins in reality , before they stopped and we let it carry on , on its journey . The dive chief was amazed we had swam with it so long , as they can get bored with it and just zoom away into the distance !!
All the chatter on the boat after was about the manta ray - everyone was buzzing !!!
Next we headed through the gap in the outer reef into deep water where we had seen whales breaching just before the manta swim . They seemed to have stopped all the splashing about just as we got nearer - maybe it was the engine noise ? They swam away from us , but the skipper kept to his 100m away from them . We tailed them for a while , then turned back - as we went the other direction , they started doing fin slaps - ironic isn’t it!!
With the whale watching finished , we headed back inside the reef and had some sandwiches and a bit of fruit for lunch . The outer reef was exposed in parts - the tide must have been reaching it’s low point - coral was out in the open air .
Further back in , as we passed through another sandy section , we saw another manta ray about 10m away from the boat .
We stopped at a section of the reef they call The Canyon , it had a large drop off about 10m deep , and was all coral , there were several coral bombies that were reaching to the surface . The coral was all colours , yellow , pink , orange , blue & green and with more fish than I’ve seen in a lifetime . There were groups of fish - all different types , all grinding away at the coral , you could hear it metres away - a constant crunching !! The teeth on some of the parrot fish , a dentist would be proud of !! There was fan coral , brain coral , staghorn coral and a large section that almost looked like the fruit from a Monstera Deliciousa - tall , segmented and about as thick as a baseball bat .
This snorkel was the icing on the cake , it certainly topped the day off really well !! After about 25mins swimming around and sometimes surrounded with little blue & green fish , I got a bit too cold and got out . As I approached the boat , there were about 6 large snapper below it , just one would have made a really nice meal for 4 people .
Grabbing my towel and getting out of the wet suit , I grabbed another cup of tea to warm up with , then they served up some apple tea cake , which went down a treat !!
We headed back in thoroughly satisfied with todays proceedings , asking ourselves how we were going to improve on todays outing - it’s going to take some beating !!
Lyn had an interesting day walking down round the beach and swimming - a husband free 6 hours !!! I met her back down near the beach at some picnic tables , we had a pretty easy afternoon , and headed back for some cheese & bickies & a beer , before heading back down later for a sunset beer with Peter and Sandy .
A glorious day in a paradise - Coral Bay and Ningaloo Reef - we will be back !!!
The only downfall was I didn't have a waterproof camera to record it all - ah , a perfect reason to do it all again !!!!
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