Friday, February 05, 2010

Good G-Reef

Well - I have to say, we have had both the best and worst days of the trip so far since the last blog.

Carnavron has to be the most BORING place on the planet. There is absolutely nothing to do there, and is completely dull. the highlight of the 2 day stop here was the old post office cafe, which served some excellent food, and the out door swimming pool. I wish to god we skipped this place and came straight to Coral Bay.

Which brings me onto the best part of our trip so far!! diving with Manta Rays and reef sharks at the Ningaloo Reef!

i had 2 scuba dives and then we snorkelled with the manta rays. the 1st dive was really good, and saw lots of fish of all shapes and sizes such as bull rays, scorpion fish, morays and a spotted sweetlips!!.

the 2nd dive was amazing. just before we went in the water, we spotted a huge tiger shark lurking in the area. everyone was a bit worried but the instructors just shrugged it off and said we'd be alright. So, the dive itself was incredible. we went through caves and canyons made up of corals, and it was beautiful. We also saw 2 grey reef sharks - these are harmless, but look like proper sharks!

we also had a school of bludger and golden trevalley fish, quite large, circle us for a while, which was also an amazing experience. someone took a couple of pics of me, so i have given them my email address so they can send me the pics. Tanya didnt dive, she just snorkelled.

The manta ray was really cool. It had a wing span of about 4 meters, which is pretty small compared to the 9 meter rays seen at this location. even so, it was swimming backwards and forwards along the bottom, feeding. It was very elegant and glided across the sea bed softly! The best bit, was when it did a flip for us, which meant we saw it come up, turn over, seeing the underside, and then continue on its journey.

When we arrived back to the bay, there was this HUGE Groper fish hiding under one of the boats.... you wont believe me when i say it was as long as a motor bike (like the long harley davidsons) and as fat as a horse or a cow.... i couldnt believe what i was seeing. aparently, it was about 40 years old, and the locals have even given it a name, and treat it as their pet!!

This was money very well spent and i feel more an more confident about dives. Shame we are not in the whale shark season, as i would definatley give it a go!

Today, we sunbathed in coral bay. the best thing about coral bay, is that from the beach, you can swim out about 50 meters, and you are instantly greeted with the ningaloo coral reef! so, we spent most of the day snorkelling and swimming, trying to spot more fish. i managed to see a soulfin catfish and a couple of small stingrays! learning from steve irwins experiences, i decided NOT to provoke the stingrays!!

We are hanging around now until 23:30, when our coach comes to pick us up and take us to exmouth. This is the last place we are visiting up the coast before we fly back to Perth. I have reserved a jeep in exmouth to take us to some of the amazing beaches up there such as turquoise bay and bundegi beach for the legendary sunsets!!

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