CORAL BAY FRIDAY 18th NOV

Hi to all, hope this finds you well. We are currently in Coral Bay a nice part of the Ningaloo Reef, where the caravan park is directly across from the Bay and you can swim through the reef & fish. So here is a breakdown of our days. 

FRIDAY 11 NOV.....We left Exmouth and stopped at the Learmonth Wharf, not much but is supposed to be a good area for fishing. We arrived at Coral Bay and set up with the Bewells & us at the back of the park, sites are a good size plus some shade, whilst the Butlers are down in Snobsville.... set up at the front facing the water. If you come to this area make sure you bring your own fresh water, as it is scarce and what you can use is salty.  We had a swim before lunch then went for a snorkel in the arvo. There are heaps of different fish and its good to see the coral. Today is windy again and it will be like this for rest of the week. SAT 12 NOV....Windy again today, we first went for a walk around the shoreline to the shark nursery, where young reef sharks hang close to shore. We walked into the water and they came within 15-20ft of us, Carol ended up up bit closer to them as one of her shoes floated off towards them, so she had to do a quick dash to grab it, Di & Carol continued further around the Point whilst the Bewells & Rans returned.

We then hung around the beach for a while, Rans went for another snorkel, says that the coral is fantastic and saw heaps of fish.  After lunch, a swim, sun bake etc...doing it real hard. The wind eases off during the night. SUN 13 NOV........ Today the 5 of us went on a cruise on a glass bottom boat across the reef. This is a real highlight of our trip so far, seeing wonderful shapes of Coral and AMAZING colours of fish. We stoppped on the reef & we snorkeled all round the boat.

 The girls did well, Di hung onto a tow rope, whilst Sandy hung onto John and adventured out, & Carol just snorkeled everywhere, she has become a real dere devil!!! We are close to the Coral here with it only being 1-2m deep. We saw some awesome fish, some really huge ones.  We are in the water for approx 1/2hr so it was good. We then continued further out into the reef, almost to the Bomboras and stopped again for another snorkel. Here it is a bit deeper and the coral shapes are huge, in shapes of lettuce/caulies, tables. There is a resident grey nurse shark here so you are keeping an eye out but we didn't see him but John & I headed a fair distance away from the boat and we came over this rock ledge where it goes straight down to deep waters, maybe 30-40ft, it was a bit eerie, but saw huge fish and coral. So so good.

We then went to the Turtle Sanctuary where turtles swim & live as it is too shallow for sharks and it has ideal food supplies for the turtles. Here we see heaps of turtles beside the boat as well as through the glass bottom, we also see a large blue starfish & a Eagle Ray which was quite big. Overall it was another fantastic cruise, well worth the money and something that is a must. We have been so lucky. In the arvo we just hung around the beach and had a swim. This is a great place, the c/park is good, has enough shade to relax during the heat of the day, it is clean & right on the reef.

MON 14 NOV.....Did some washing, then off to beach, John & Sandy went for a snorkel, then Rans & I went for a snorkel, we walked around the point and out into the water where the reef is. It drops off quite quick and believe it or not me,(Carol) who wouldn't put her face in the water is snorkeling in water 5 to 15m deep. The current takes you back to the bay so you just float looking at the magnificent coral formations as well as the fish & clams. This place is another must do on your bucket list, we spent almost an hour in the water taking heaps of underwater photos.

 Rans also likes the scenery on the beach where the European girls just get changed right in front of you.....not that he looks!! After lunch the boys headed over to Mauds Landing where they fished. Tezza got a good size Queenie, & Long Tom. The water is so nice here, but very windy, they said their tackle boxes got covered in sand & by the time they finished they almost couldn't find them. Meanwhile the 3 girls again went for a snorkel together, with Carol & Sandra teaching Di, yes that's right 2 girls who only liked water from showers ! teaching/assisting someone else to snorkel !!! They saw some clams and heaps of parrot fish which have so many pretty colours.We had so much fun, laughed most of the way out there, especially when Di needed to blow her nose & pulled a hankie (yes a WET hanki !)out of her cosie top!! Another great day.  TUESDAY 15 NOV...... Sand & John got good news late yesterday that their fridge has arrived so they will head back to Exmouth tomorrow. Wind has eased a little here today, but flies are on the increase..The Bewells & Ransley went for a snorkel this morning, we are in the water for almost an hour, approx 70=80m from shore and 5-10m deep. Yes you can't believe Caz & Sandra are doing this....neither can John & Rans, but they are very proud of the girls as they know what they think of water. Caz gets some great shots and we know how the Rock, gorges & shells made you bored, try looking at all the underwater photos, but we believe that these are great shots giving you a look at so fascinating Coral formations. After lunch the 3 boys went to the boat ramp where the wind is blowing again, but the bait fish is abundant (see caz photo) so Tezza throws in a net & we get 9 bags of bait fish, which is good for us as we go through a lot with not much success!! Rans catches 1 Long Tom, a good size but it swallowed the hook to his tail almost, cut & throw.

 The boys return & the 2 of us go for one last snorkel and see a huge bat fish with magnificent colours. Rans then joins John for a snorkel. This is the best place by far, just bring a lot of food & water and you will have a great & AMAZING Time. We have fish for tea which was nice.  WED 16 NOV.....The Butlers & us head off south towards Carnarvon whilst the Bewells head nth to Exmouth to get their new fridge. The trip was easy, a few road trains, but there is more shrubs & wattles around, so it makes it a bit more enjoyable. We arrive in Carnarvon which has lots of Banana Plantations, Mangoes & Strawberries. We set up at the Wintersun C/P which is OK, all the parks are in close prox to each other. We then made a beeline to Woolies to re stock as we were down to the bare minimal. Donna & Phil from Alice Springs join us for happy hr. THURS 17 NOV.....Today we wash vans & car to get the salt and tree saps off, so it takes up most of our morning, after lunch we went for a drive around Carnarvon looking for fishing spots, but due to the wind there is not much around. We checked out a couple of seafood shops (if we can't catch them we might as well buy them !!) with prawns being reasonable, but fish is still expensive. Caz spoke to Sand & John who got their new fridge installed but bad news this one not working either ! bloody frustrating.  FRID 18 NOV.... Well its been 7months since we left home, we miss our boys, Jade, family & friends immensley. But we are enjoying everything so so much, having a great time with us seeing things and doing things some people only dream about. The west coast is beautiful only downfall is the wind but we still have a lot to see before we get to South Aus so we just have to get used to it. Today we went for a drive out to Miaboolya Beach, but it was blowing a gale, its suppose to be a nudist beach but things would have been blown away today!!! We then went to Bumbaks Plantation and bought some nice jams & had  Mango Ice creams.yummy. We also had a look at the big dish and visitor centre before heading back. We have decided to head nth tomorrow to the blowhole which is on the coast We hope to have 3-4days here and hopefully the Bewells can join us, but they are still having problems with the fridge.A big hello to all, hope you are all doing ok, take care, Carol & Rans xxx   Happy Birthday to Heals, Colly Doll, Maureen, Abbey Dabby Do, Miss Trish & Gary T, Katelyn M, Jade & Katelyn H. Hope you all have/had a great day.xxxxxxx