Under the Sea (Exmouth, Coral Bay, Ningaloo Reef, WA)

The original intention had been to drive straight to Exmouth because the day involved 8 hours behind the wheel. After Carnarvon, however, our discussions led us to make a detour to Coral Bay so that we could check out the location of the departure point for the Mantaray Snorkelling tour we had pre-booked for the next day. So there is no prize for guessing today's title is associated with the snorkelling trip, Under the Sea, that Disney classic from The Little Mermaid. The original animated version, I haven't seen the latest iteration.

Coral Bay

While we didn’t expect Coral Bay to be overly large, the instruction we had was to meet at Shop 12 in the shopping arcade. The rendez-vous was for 8:15 am which was going to mean a very early (for us) wake up as we would be driving back from Exmouth, 90 minutes away. Additionally, given we were going to be gone all day so we needed to locate a parking spot.

Coral Bay has one up on Monkey Mia. While it is still basically a camping and caravan “resort”, it also sports one restaurant next door to a circular shopping arcade, which comprises a supermarket, a nursing post, a bakery and multiple surf, dive and tour shops that all offer the same bewildering array of Ningaloo Reef experiences and merch opportunities. 

Out of sequence - looking to the shore form Utopia.

The uniformity of the tour shops made it imperative to locate the shop numbers so we could find our tour operator. We had the paperwork and so we were also looking for the company logo on each shop, a task made more difficult because each shop had an inner shop front and an outside shop front around the circular arcade. 

After two circumnavigations, we managed to locate shops 1 and 11, but no shop 12. How hard could this be? We are not talking about a centre the size of Miranda Fair. At this point, Jayne spotted an ‘I” information sign on one shop front and went in to get some directions. As it turns out, the company logo we had been searching for was on display, BEHIND the counter so we realised we had stumbled onto to shop 12 by accident. Halleluja!!!

So many great photos.

We checked with the girl at the register about the tour arrangements for tomorrow morning and then, having established that we could park our car at the arcade carpark all day, we drove the hour and a half to Exmouth. We felt pretty relieved that we had not turned up on the morning of the tour without having reconnoîtred the location – it would have been panic stations at an ungodly hour of the morning!

Exmouth

We rolled into the resort just after 5pm to be confronted by the tragic news that a pipe had burst in our pre-booked one bedroom suite, overlooking the beach. We would have to be re-housed for the duration of our stay. Sadly, there was only one spare unit – no other options available as the resort was fully booked due to the school holidays. Happily, this luxurious two bedroom apartment, with spa bath, also overlooked the pool area with Exmouth Beach views. The upgrade found us enjoying a space bigger than our own home. Welcome to Exmouth!

Living area/kitchen

Master bedroom

We booked a late dinner at the restaurant and adjourned to our apartment to enjoy its facilities. Unlike Monkey Mia, The Mantarays Ningaloo Resort is actually a proper resort.

Bathroom

We were awoken by an unholy ruckus at 6:15am – it was my alarm. Time to get ready for the drive back to Coral Bay. Although the drive itself was uneventful, the early morning light provided a completely different perspective of the surrounding landscape. The colours seemed softer and had more depth, without the harsh glare of the sun.

The view to the beach.

The verandah.

Ningaloo Marine Interactions

After our perfectly executed arrival at the arcade, we reported to shop 12 to sign the agreement that we would not hold them responsible if the wild marine creatures did not co-operate and turn up for the tour. We were then told that, in maybe 15 or 20 minutes, we would need to gather on the outside of the shop to meet the guides and bus to take us to the jetty for the boat departure. Hmmm, not quite the military timing precision indicated in the instruction email. Oh well – it gave us time to queue up in the bakery to ensure that we followed one of my grandfather’s golden boating rules: never go to sea on an empty stomach.

17 tourists and 3 girl snorkel guides (all blonde, tanned and tattooed) gathered and boarded the minibus for the short drive to the Coral Bay jetty. We were met there by skipper Fraser and his boat Utopia. Hopefully the day would not turn out to be orchestrated by Tom Gleisner, Rob Sitch or Santo Cilauro … come on, you know what I mean. This was the same boat that took Tim Winton out to swim with the manta rays in his recent 3-part doco on Ningaloo Reef and Exmouth Gulf (check it out on ABC Iview).

After an onshore briefing which included handing our shoes in so they would not present trip hazards on the decks (unlike the flippers and snorkels which people left lying everywhere when they were not in use), we boarded the boat and Fraser himself welcomed us, as well as providing the mandatory safety briefing about what to do should the boat sink. Very reassuring.

After that, it was time to get kitted out with short sleeve/short leg wetsuits (spring suits) and any other snorkelling paraphernalia if people had not brought their own. Once in our suits, we were taken out to a reef spot that was to be used by the guides to conduct a guided snorkel to ascertain how competent and comfortable the group was in the water.

Snorkel 1 - Practise

The day was totally sunny but there was a breeze on the water that made it feel pretty cool on deck. Sunny skies would mean optimum underwater viewing but we were expecting the water temperature to be okay. We were instructed to stay as a group in the water and to follow the guides around the drop zone. We were also told to slide off the platform at the back of the boat so as not to disturb the reef and its inhabitants.

Proof.

The initial entry into the water was a bit bracing until the water inside the suits warmed up and we started to snorkel around the spot. One of the guides had an impressive underwater camera which she used throughout the day to capture the marine life, the reef itself and our tour group’s experience. The photos have since been emailed to the group to use.

The turtle.

I had my Gopro underwater camera as well to try to capture what we saw. I have had this for many years so it is not the latest in technology. It is brought out infrequently and therefore requires a review of its operation each time to refamiliarise myself with how to use it. While it can be mounted on helmets etc, I was using it as a hand-held device on the tour with varying degrees of success so we were glad that the company offered a photo record of the trip as part of the deal. Their photos feature in this post.

How colourful.

On this first drop, we were immediately aware of the difference between Ningaloo Reef and the Great Barrier Reef as well as other snorkelling spots we have been to in the South Pacific. The corals here are more muted in colour but they are far more diverse and robust in form and the amount and variety of marine life here is astounding. We saw a turtle (who quite happily swam around with the group), a sting ray, white tipped reef sharks snoozing under a rock, and so many iridescent fish of all different sizes, colours and patterns - it was truly like swimming in an aquarium.

Just resting under a rock. Promise I won't bite you.

Snorkel 2 - the Manta Ray

Once back onboard, we were served morning tea while Fraser liaised with a spotter plane to try to locate any manta rays nearby. The wind seemed to have picked up or maybe it was because we were in wetsuits but it felt really cold so we were all pretty keen to get back into the relatively warmer water. Luckily, we didn’t have too long to wait as Fraser managed locate a ray before the spotter plane could. As he headed to the next drop, the guides used the time to educate us on the manta ray and to instruct us on what we would have to do to be able to see and follow the ray.

Hi, my name is Rastas.

The rays are huge creatures (wingspan of up to 8 metres) which come into the reef to filter feed. They have no natural predators and so generally live over 50 years, unless they are hunted by humans. The Utopia is part of a ray audit team that records the movement of the rays by identifying each one through its unique markings underneath. If a new ray is spotted then the tour group names the ray for future reference. Our ray today turned out to be #41, named Rastas, who is at least 35 years old, with a wingspan of 4 metres.

Belly roll for the camera.

On this drop, we were divided into 2 groups to alternate snorkelling twice over the feeding ray so as to give everyone a clear view. Again, we were cautioned not to dive down but to swim on the surface above the ray. 

Upon entry into the water, it took some time to adjust our vision because the water where the rays feed is slightly cloudy with the food particles. After a moment, the massive creature seemed to emerge underneath us, gracefully and majestically making its way along the seabed, almost entirely black, with white tips on its tail and horns. At one point the ray flipped over, exposing its white underside with the unique black markings, revealing its identity. This behaviour was part of the feeding pattern but also allowed it to look at us above it as its eyes are underneath its body  – with no predators, it has no need to keep an eye out for possible attacks from above.

After the second drop, we were provided with hamburgers for lunch as the Utopia criss-crossed the reef area in search of marine life to show to us. This strategy yielded sightings of dugongs, turtles, dolphins and humpback whales.

Dugong and calf.

Over lunch we chatted to David, a surgeon, who turned out to be one of the Manly Sea Eagles’ doctors. He spoke about his involvement with both Manly and the Blues which was interesting.

Humpback whale.

Snorkel 3 - SHARKS!

After lunch we made our way back towards the Coral Bay area of the reef for one final drop, this time to see black tipped reef sharks at a known “cleaning station” in the coral where the sharks come to have their skin and teeth cleansed of parasites by an army of wrasse. 

The cleaning station

The station also apparently attracts tiger sharks to avail themselves of the cleaning service. I was quite thankful that today was not their day – the 8 large reef sharks that were there, were enough for me. The sight of one swimming up towards you with its mouth wide open to allow the wrasse to get at its teeth, is unnerving despite the guides’ assurances that we were safe because we were in clear water and couldn’t be mistaken for anything sharks might want to eat.

They're real.

It was truly an amazing experience and by far the best snorkelling I've done. WA is proving to be well worth the effort of getting here. We will be back.

After this drop, it was time to head back to the jetty, reclaim our shoes and drive back to Exmouth for a dinner of cheese, biscuits and leftover pasta, while watching the 3rd Ashes Test. After a long day, sleep came easily.

Until next time.

Sunny afternoon (Hamilton Island)

More rain overnight but the morning arrived with decreasing cloud, warmer temperatures and light breeze. Today promised more than any of the preceding days. Island paradise at last. Which inspired today's title. Yes my encyclopaedic reader it is another Kinks song, but I'm trying to inspire the younger generation to expand their music repertoire. They were such a great band and a part of the British rock invasion of the 60s.

The day commenced as it should with breakfast delivered to our room, but I said I would commence this blog with a review of dinner. Happy Easter my dear reader I hope the Easter Bunny was kind to you ... if that's your thing of course.

The Yacht Club from across the marina

Bommie is the up-market restaurant in the Hamilton Island Yacht Club. As I made mention yesterday it has a strict dress code. Well, no thongs, singlets or board shorts. I've never been a fan of dress codes so I wore a singlet, albeit under my shirt. The rules seem specifically aimed at men. Certainly there were men in trousers - previously the only trousers I'd seen were on staff in various establishments. It is a resort in the tropics after all. What makes a daggy pair of canvas shoes more acceptable than a pair of thongs? Why is it that a pair of thongs not made of rubber, aka women's sandals, are acceptable? There were some interesting outfits on show that passed muster to get through the door. The shortest pair of faded, ragged denim shorts I've ever seen. Tennis shoes - they still exist apparently. Some outfits were not able to be critiqued because the ladies in question had obviously been caught short without a cardie (unlike Jayne) and were rugged up in bright red blankets supplied by the restaurant. Seemed a bit OTT as the dining room was not al fresco.

The restaurant itself is all dark timber and mood lighting with expansive views over the water. The tables are enormous triangular pieces that are way too big for two people. This arrangement, however, means you are well separated from other diners and do not have to yell to be heard. You may think that means you cannot hear the other diners' conversations, but the couple to our left were engaged in an animated discussion, regularly punctuated by expletives and absences from the table in between courses. And they were smokers. That's allowed, but no thongs. It is still legal, although snorting cocaine is not. This, I discovered in the toilets, didn't appear to worry the middle-aged (OK he was younger than me) guy from another nearby table. But again, no thongs, so it was OK.

Our waitress was lovely and decidedly nervous and moved through the learned-by-heart patter as if she was reciting her mother's death notice in public for the first time. The 8 course degustation was served with matching wines and there were some interesting choices. A pinot noir with the bitter chocolate dessert. I get the reasoning, but it just didn't work. You got the feeling they were trying just a little bit too hard when compared with the simplicity of the fare at Beach Club. The latter was the winner in my humble opinion.

Nice view from IGA

Back to today. What a stunner as far as the weather goes. Sunshine. A bit of fast moving cloud. No rain. I repeat, no rain. That was a first. Despite the unusual weather pattern, we followed our routine. Breakfast followed by activity, but today the activity included a swim. Well, a wade and a float. There are some serious obstacles beneath the surface of the water. Had we not wandered the shore at low tide we would have been unaware of the rocks that lurk beneath the blue-green water.




Interestingly, there is a shelf of conglomerate that sits just below the high tide line. There is also a significant amount of rock and pebble that gets moved around by the dominant current. Beyond this, there are rocks encrusted with razor sharp oyster shells. The water is too clouded for snorkelling and I certainly wouldn't wade in there without reef shoes. The colour of the water reminds me of a glacial lake. As you know my scientific reader, that colour is made up of rock particles that have been ground up by the passage of the glacier. Given the lack of visibility in this water, is it also dense with fine particles of ground rock?

Lunch time view

Enough thinking, it is holiday time. Wearing our reef shoes, we made access and egress from the water look easy by comparison to some other visitors to the island. They walked, they hesitated, they stepped forward, they danced back, they moved sideways, they slipped, they fell, but they made their way into the water. We walked in and walked out.

While we were waiting to dry off a little two tweenies and their gravelled-voiced mother arrived from further down the beach. Mother looked around, read the "Beach Club visitors only" sign and sat down on a day bed in the shade. The girls then made use of one of the hammocks. They did NOT belong here dear reader. They were children under the age of 18 and were therefore NOT staying at our adults ONLY resort. Sadly the lights and sirens I had hoped for did not eventuate, nor did armed guards rise up from the sand and gun them down. In fact, nothing happened at all and after a few minutes the tweenies became bored and departed with mum in tow.

After drying off  and seeing the interlopers off our property we strolled to the eastern end of the beach and back again and thence to the resort pool to wash off the salt.

After all that exercise it was time for lunch. Not such an easy choice. This is HI - the island of restaurants that DO NOT do lunch. We are SERIOUS restaurants, we ONLY do dinner. Well, we are on holidays and like to be lazy and enjoy a long lunch, so, you won't be enjoying our cash.

From the deck at Manta Ray

We walked into Restaurant Manta Ray. I know, more exercise. And scored a table on the water. Unlike our favourite restaurant at Amoudie Bay on What-is-this-WHS-you-speak-of?-Santorini where a painted white line was all that stopped us from tipping off our chairs into the water, a sturdy railed fence lined the restaurant deck to keep tipsy patrons from  coming to grief on the rocks below.

Not long after the place was packed and people were waiting for water-view tables. It is an Italian-style restaurant, not pretentious, with quick turn-over, if desired, or a long lunch if that is what you are after. We ordered sourdough and tiger prawns to begin and enjoyed them them with a bottle of Yarra Valley chardy. Could we have a break between courses? Of course, let me know when you want the mains started ... how cool is that?



The sourdough, oil and roasted garlic was lovely and the prawns and pesto were very tasty. We sat and chatted and watched the planes landing and the boats bobbing in their moorings. As the tide receded it revealed crabs on the rocks and some large fish swimming past as lazily as we were eating lunch. Then we asked for the mains, which were delivered promptly, linguine with prawns and chilli. Just yum. Paired nicely with a bottle of rosé from Adelaide Hills. The service, the view, the food; everything was first class and all within view of the ostentatious yacht club. We could have eaten here all week for what we spent on dinner last night. And I was wearing thongs!

Back to the Beach Club for a siesta, some reading, some blogging, some champagne and the slow holiday drift from late afternoon into evening.

Until tomorrow.

If I can muster the energy.

The Tide is High (Hamilton Island)

Day one ended with a beautiful 5 course degustation dinner, with matching wines, at the Beach Club restaurant. The Malaysian curry and the beef were the standout dishes. The surprise of the night was a locally made limoncello, based on vodka. Extra smooth and seductive, it's the sort of thing you could sip all night. Although you might find it difficult walking back to your room.

Looking back at the resort from a sodden beach

Looking east

The intermittent rain continued through the night, varying from torrential to drizzle. At times it drowned out the sound of the waves. The morning dawned to reveal the same sort of day as yesterday. Rain showers of varying intensity interspersed by sunshine. It hasn't deterred people from getting out and about but I'm watching the next wave of rain quietly displacing the sun and it will have a significant impact. Looks like the early part of the day will be spent blogging and reading. 

Although we didn't get active until 7:30 the birds made their presence felt at sunrise. We have plantation shutters that allow the breeze to come into the room as well as the rhythmic lull of the waves. Bird song can not be excluded. It wasn't quite musical but it didn't force me out of bed either.

We opted to breakfast in our room. It arrived right on time and was much larger than either of us anticipated. Pastries, fresh fruit, yoghurt, granola, toast and of course, eggs for Jayne. The rain was back and we sat around being lulled by the waves crashing on the shore. There were plenty of people about on boards and kayaks. The rain eased and we decided to explore Catseye Beach. We had walked maybe 20 metres when the rain forced us to abort and seek shelter by the infinity pool.

Not a bad place to shelter from the rain

The next attempt was much more successful and we walked to the eastern end of the beach. The tide was high, hence today's title, aclassic from Blondie.  Then back to the western end where the Resort Centre and three million children are located. There are a number of shops, food outlets and a tour booking service. Most of the tours require good weather, it would appear from the weather forecast that we will be ducking in and out of the rain all week, so we probably won't be heading out to the reef or sailing at sunset.

The Resort Centre was overrun with children. It was like walking through a primary school playground. It made me shudder. Time to seek the solace of our unit and plan the next activity.

Fun fact: No swimming pool on Hamilton Island is fenced, nor are they supervised. In a curious nod to the past, parents are expected to supervise their own children closely. Who'd have thought? It would be an interesting exercise to compare the drowning statistics against an area where pools are supposed to be fenced. I have long believed that pool fences encourage a false sense of security and even an abrogation of responsibility.

Looking west

With a break in the weather we decided it was time to chance our luck and walk to the marina for lunch. Fish and chips from Popeye's we were seeking but were almost side tracked by the options at Manta Ray. Had they offered simple fish and chips they would have won because they were licensed. Under arcane licensing laws alcohol can only be served with meals on Good Friday and Popeye's is just a take-away. Bravely resisting the temptation of the demon drink we walked on. The fish and chips were well cooked, simple and cheap. Fresh reef fish, yum.

It would be spectacular in the sunshine.

Back at the resort we realised that there would be no lunch time cocktail. The bottle shop was closed. Thankfully the law didn't extend to emptying our bar fridge. We have ample supplies of champagne and wine to make it through until tomorrow.

The afternoon cleared to blue skies with the very occasional light showers as the tide receded. The tides are huge and even with 3 hours to go before low tide you are able to walk a long way across the sand flats. Afternoon exercise completed, 10K steps achieved, it was champagne time. We whiled away the hours fending off birds who wanted to share our food and watching a young wallaby tucking into the fresh green grass that separates us from the waterfront. It's a tough life.

Until tomorrow.