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Coral Bay, January 2001

Submitted by admin on Fri, 03/09/2012 - 13:59

After staying the night in Perth, I then had most of the day to kill before my bus for the north. So I caught the train down to Freemantle and had a bit of a wander around. I found a dive shop and got some details for later in the trip. My plan was to catch the bus up to Coral Bay, spend some time there and in Exmouth, and then fly back to Perth. I'd already bought the air ticket from Learmonth to Perth, which had set me back $337. I thought this was excessive given how short the flight was. The Greyhound bus wasn't much cheaper though. The return fare was about a dollar more than a 2000 kilometre at $234 dollars. As I didn't want to go anywhere else the pass wasn't much use to me. On reflection I would have rather bought a return air ticket for the extra hundred bucks.

The bus left at 9.00pm and took about 15 hours to get to Coral Bay. I had enquired about diving the Abroholos islands off the coast near Geraldton, but I was told it would probably be "too windy" at the time of year. Geraldton is a very windy place, but I am beginning to wonder if anyone ever dives the Abroholos. I've now failed twice in a row.

Lots of people I spoke to said that they weren't going north of Perth because it was too hot. When the bus stopped at the Minilya roadhouse I was beginning to think they had a point. It felt like you were stepping out into an oven. The shade temperature must have been at least 40°C and there wasn't much shade to be had.

Coral Bay had hardly changed at all. There were still a few shops, a pub with motel style accommodation, and a couple of campsites. There were a few more units in one of the campsites, but that was it. Unfortunately neither of the two backpackers hostels had improved since my last visit. I was staying at the Coral Bay Backpackers which I thought was marginally better than the other one, though there wasn't much in it. At $16.50 a night it wasn't cheap either, particularly as this got you a bed in a 6 bed room. There was also no air conditioning, though I didn't find this too much of a problem because the sea breezes kept the temperature down. If I got too hot, I went and collapsed in the swimming pool.

I had booked my accommodation and diving through Exmouth Dive Centre. I had emailed them from England and booked everything in advance. Their shop in Coral Bay is called Ningaloo Reef Dive. On my previous visit to Coral Bay, I had dived with another shop which has since changed hands and I hadn't been very impressed with the sites. They were all quite shallow and I felt I could easily have snorkelled them. This time I was assured that we would be doing better sites if the weather permitted. When the wind picks up, they can often only go to the 6-8m sites inside the lagoon.

The water was just about warm enough to use a full, one piece 3mm wetsuit. They said that it was unseasonably cold for the time of year. Normally it's about 26-28°C. On our first dive, we went out to a place called The Elbow. We were assigned buddies but we all went in the water in a big group, which I hate. My assigned buddy was supposed to be AOW certified. However, he spent the whole dive upside down, above everyone's head, trying to do breaststroke arms. He didn't get any better on the second dive either. Personally I thought he had no right to be in open water and it was a relief when he got low on air so quickly and had to finish each dive early.

The dive site itself was a couple of gullies with coral growth on either side. A large, friendly Potato Cod followed us around for most of the dive. There were also big shoals of fusiliers, some big emperors and a couple of brightly coloured shrimps. It was a nice, easy dive. The maximum depth was 19m and my dive time was a thoroughly respectable 56 minutes. The visibility was a modest 12m or so.

After a short surface interval spent on the boat, we headed off to another site. This was shallower at around 13m. There were lots of small parrotfish around and the dive guide found us some harlequin shrimps to look at, which was good. Again the dive time was good at 57 minutes including the safety stop.

My original plan had been to have a day off in between dives, but they were doing a Manta safari on the Friday. They used a spotter plane to find the mantas and you could then go snorkelling with them, followed by a dive on the reef. As it was more expensive, and you only got to snorkel with the mantas, I decided I'd rather go diving the following day instead.

This time I was buddied with the dive guide, so there was no nightmare diver from hell to try and keep and eye on. He was also made sure that everyone stuck in their pairs more, so it was less of an underwater melee. We did a site called Hiker's Navel. It was about 13m, and there was a reasonable amount of surge underwater from the breakers rolling in off the Indian Ocean.

The coral growth was OK, though nothing spectacular, but there were loads of juvenile glassfish under all the overhangs. Hunting the small fish were big grouper, coral trout and large angelfish. Watching the grouper was quite fascinating as they lay on the bottom, using their fins to roll with the waves as they pretended to be dead. There was also a species of surgeonfish that I'd never seen before. I latter found it in a book and they were Orange Epaulette Surgeonfish. Total dive time was just over an hour this time and the depth was 13m.

Our second dive was at a site called False Ledge, which is a coral ledge inside False Passage. This site is more sheltered from the ocean waves than the previous sites, so the coral growth was much better. The reef was really brightly coloured in a variety of green and purple shades. However the fish life wasn't as good, though there were still some big grouper around. Again my dive time was just over an hour. One couple went back early because they were getting cold. Hanging underneath the boat they managed to see a hammerhead shark. Naturally I completely missed it.

Apart from the diving, there isn't that much to do in Coral Bay, which is part of its charm. Quad biking through the dunes is quite popular, as a scenic plane flights over the area. If you don't dive, there is plenty of good snorkelling from the beach and the protected lagoon is large and safe, apart from the passing hammerhead sharks.

The pub has a good atmosphere, but it's not cheap. They had karaoke there a couple of times, though the organisers were passing though, so it's not a regular thing. There's also a nice bakery in town where they bake all their own bread. There is no bank though, so if you can't use EFTPOS, getting money can be a problem. GSM mobile phones don't work either, though CDMA ones do and, whilst there is internet access available, it seemed to be broken more often than not. So if you're looking for somewhere quiet, with good diving and a nice beach, it's a nice place to go.

There are plans to build another resort just up the coast from Coral Bay at a place called Maud's Landing. Whilst I'd be all in favour of some better accommodation, I thought the new resort sounds far too big and the proposed marina sounds like a terrible idea in a place full of delicate corals. There is a campaign against the resort which has a website.

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