Another Day in Paradise - Coral Bay, Western Australia

I've been absent from my blog the last couple of weeks because we've been relaxing and living the beach life along Western Australia’s magical Coral Coast at the small seaside township of Coral Bay, located 1125 kilometres from Perth, 152km south of Exmouth on North West Cape, and 238km kilometres north of Western Australia’s banana growing region Carnarvon.

WA’s Coral Coast starts at Cervantes, a two hour drive north of Perth, and features 1,100 kilometres of stunning coastline, white sandy beaches, marine sanctuaries, the pristine coral reefs of the Ningaloo Reef, National Parks and World Heritage areas.

This was our fourth trip to Coral Bay, the first being in the mid 1980s during the early days of eco-tourism in Coral Bay when Coral Bay was not much more than a caravan park, hotel, and a general store. Coral Bay has grown since then but it still retains its relaxed beachside holiday feel visited by thousands of tourists, families, retired lifestylers, and holiday groups every year from around the world.  Today you will see a small collection of about 20 houses that can be rented, plus workers’ accommodation units, a hotel, backpackers’ accommodation, two caravan parks including cabins, a small shopping centre which includes a fantastic bakery, a tavern, several restaurants serving local seafood, and a host of dive and tour companies.

And of course there is the beach, only a short walk from your front door - look how blue and clear that water is.

We arrived at Coral Bay after two days on the road driving up from our home in the wintery south west. I recommend that travellers take the scenic Indian Ocean Drive which gives you access to the coastal communities between Perth and Geraldton, rather than battling with road-trains on the Brand Highway. I have blogged about the Indian Ocean Drive previously Return to Wedge - Indian Ocean Drive

We stopped overnight at Northbrook Farmstay, conveniently located just six kilometres north of Northhampton (475km north of Perth). The self-contained cottage suited us perfectly for the night and we were on the road early the next morning, stopped in Carnarvon for lunch and reached Coral Bay late afternoon.  

Northbrook Farmstay, Northhampton

Carnarvon banana plantations and waterfront

The ocean at Coral Bay sparkles bluer than blue.  One of the main reasons people visit Coral Bay is to experience the Ningaloo Reef, regarded as one of the world’s great ocean paradises. Ningaloo is Australia’s largest fringing reef, stretching 300 kilometres from Red Bluff, 140 kilometres north of Carnarvon to Bundegi Reef near Exmouth on the tip of North West Cape.  The Ningaloo Marine Park encompasses over 5,000 square kilometres of ocean and is home to around 300 species of coral and 500 species of fish.

Everything in Coral Bay is only metres from the beach, so park your car, slap on a hat, and walk. The beach at Coral Bay is sheltered and the shallow water makes it perfect for families with children, who can play on the white sandy beach, swim safely and wade into the water to see fish swimming along the shoreline and amongst the coral gardens only a few metres from the shore. All you need do is wade in with a snorkel and face mask. For those not confident with snorkelling a “noodle” is a useful addition to your kit to help keep you afloat. The ocean front at Coral Bay is within the marine sanctuary zone and the fish swim close to shore, making for an amazing experience.

THINGS TO DO:

• ·        Relax! Bare feet mandatory. Check out my last post  - Rules of the beach

•  See the Norwest Snapper fish feeding frenzy at 3.30pm on the beach at Coral Bay (when we visited Monday, Wednesday and Friday)

•  Take a glass-bottom boat or sub-sea explorer tour over the coral.  Or join a See-doo Scooter, kayaking or snorkelling tour.

• Snorkel from the beach

    

         Bottom left is an amazing blue clam which we saw only metres from the shore. 
For those interested, I don't have a complicated underwater camera set-up, just my little Canon G11 go everywhere camera in an underwater housing and no lights.  So I need to be in fairly shallow water for there to be colour in my pics (a bit of post processing helps too). Also I am not good at holding my breath diving down to get closer to take pics, so the water needs to be only a couple of metres deep for me.  Take at look at this blue starfish - cool hey?
 

• For those who are confident snorkelling or deep sea diving and with dollars to spend, you can take a tour from Coral Bay or Exmouth to swim with the Whale Sharks (March to July), Manta Rays (all year) and Humpback Whales (August to October). The world’s largest fish, the Whale Shark which grows up to 18 metres in length, visits the Ningaloo Reef between March and July following the mass spawning of coral. I’ve not experienced it myself, but I am told it is an amazing experience to swim with these gentle giants of the ocean.

•  Many visitors bring a boat to Coral Bay to go fishing outside the reef (please be aware of sanctuary-no fishing zones), or you can join a fishing charter boat tour to experience sport, reef, game or fly-fishing.  

•  The Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area is also an important breeding ground for six varieties of turtles which come ashore to lay their eggs during December/January which hatchings in February and early March. The Jurabi Turtle Centre, located near Exmouth, provides information about Ningaloo’s marine turtles.

•  Explore the beaches, bush tracks and dunes on a quad bike tour

• Watch out for the wildlife. Here you can see a perentie lizard (also known as a bungarra) on our back verandah, a little crab, a herron, a red kangaroo in the caravan park more concerned about washing his face than looking at us.

• Enjoy a sunset sail.

•  Buy something yummy for morning tea from the bakery, or try local seafood cooked beautifully at one of Coral Bay's restaurants. (sorry I didn't take one food pic!)

• Are you are a retired lifestyler? Coral Bay is the perfect place to getaway from the winter down south. 

• Beach walk, sit, swim, read, sleep, relax, build sand castles, talk to friends, enjoy sunset drinks. 

THINGS TO DO FURTHER AFIELD:

• ·        Explore the rugged canyons and gorges of Cape Range National Park.
• ·        Visit 100 year old Vlamingh Head Lighthouse and the remains of a World War 11 radar and anti-aircraft post at North West Cape
• ·        Camp and snorkel in the Ningaloo Marine Park on North West Cape.
• ·        4-wheel-drive the coastal track from Coral Bay to Exmouth.
• ·        Beach camp at Ningaloo or Warroora Station.
• ·        Enjoy a boat tour along Yardie Creek.
• ·        Visit Milyering Discovery Centre in Cape Range National Park.
• ·        Experience the Ningaloo Whale Shark Festival in May.
• ·        Drive up to Exmouth for the day. 

We had two weeks in Coral Bay, and sad to say the weather wasn't kind for boating, either fishing or snorkeling out on the Ningaloo Reef from our boat (which is not big by Ningaloo standards), but the water inshore was warm enough to snorkel, the sun was shining, we had the company of good friends, we had little or no internet to bother us, and we had a lovely relaxing holiday. And with sunsets like this, who can complain?

MORE INFORMATION:

Coral Bay and Exmouth Visitor Information – www.visitningaloo.com.au

Cape Range National Park information – Milyering Discovery Centre, Email: milyering@dpaw.wa.gov.au

Northbrook Farmstay: www.northbrookfarmstay.com.au

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this visit to Coral Bay. I am back in wintery south west Western Australia and the rain is pelting down, the wind is blowing, and our trip to Coral Bay is just a memory. Do you have a favourite beach-side holiday destination? Perhaps you'd like to tell us about it in the comments. 



 I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

Mosaic Monday 
Life Thru the Lens 
Lifestyle Fifty Monday Linkup 
Our World Tuesday
Through My Lens 
Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global 
Worth Casing Wednesday 
Travel Photo Thursday
The Weekly Postcard 

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Coral Bay, Western Australia - blue on blue

created from an image I took at Coral Bay

We have just returned from two fabulous weeks at Coral Bay on Western Australia's spectacular Coral Coast. The weather was warm, but not too hot, the water temperature was perfect, the snorkeling was fantastic, there was lots of people about enjoying the sun, we had a wonderful time with our friends who came to stay with us for a week and my husband got to do some fishing and bring home some fish - AND the relaxing relaxing relaxing - morning and evening walks on the beach, stunning sunsets, sitting under an umbrella on the beach reading a book, flopping around in the warm water snorkeling amongst the beautiful fish, taking heaps of photos, trying out my new underwater camera housing, having our meals out on the veranda, not bothering about TV or news or work or computers. A wonderful holiday all round. 
read on for more..........

CORAL BAY

Bikini girls tumble out of painted vans

Sun-kissed laughter and languages merge

In a kaleidoscope of sound

Mazarine ocean sandwiched between yellow sand and sapphire sky

The fringing reef a tumble of white on the horizon.

Bring the picnic baskets and spread out the beach mats

Sunhats and sunscreen and rainbow umbrellas

Buckets and spades

Build sandcastles on the beach

Families and children mingle

Grandmothers under sunhats read from beach chairs

Grandad tips buckets of water into the moat

Boys running send seagulls squawking from their patch of sand

Little girls in frilly bathers

Brown skin baking

Ice-cream dripping over chins and fingers

Kayaks cutting through the sparkling blue.

Pull on goggles and snorkel

Wiggle into flippers

Transport you to another world

Filtered light creating patterns on the rippled sand

Flashes of silver and gold just out of reach

Weave through their underwater garden

Little stripy peers at you through the glass

An open clam waits

A spreadeagled star fish guards his collection of shells

A turtle glides across the coral floor

Following his mate into the approaching shadows.

Time to shake the sand from wet towels

The last glows of light

Turn the sky pink, red and purple

Couples entwined linger

A guitar softly strums its love song

A heron stalks the shallows

Golden ripples whisper on the sand

                                                               by Jill Harrison May 2012 

Blue, so bright and crystal clear it is startling. Its warmth envelopes me, calm and soothing as I float in another world, weightless. Floating with the current, absorbed by the sights around me I can only hear the sound of my own breathing.

Fish swim around me in shoals, parting and reforming, flashes of silver and gold in the sunlight. Tiny fish in a myriad of colours and patterns dart in and out of their underwater garden.  I am close to the shore in only a couple of metres of water but the underwater world of coral and brightly coloured fish around me is amazing.

I am snorkeling on the Ningaloo Reef at Coral Bay.  For someone like me who has never dived and has rarely snorkelled, the underwater experience was amazing, (made even more special by my new underwater housing for my camera!) and goes to show that nearly everyone can experience the reef. 

  

The Ningaloo Reef which stretches 260 kilometres along the North West Cape and covers 5,000 square kilometres, is the jewel of Western Australia's Coral Coast. It is one of the largest fringing coral reefs in the world, home to 250 species of coral and 500 species of fish and a prime conservation and sanctuary area as well as one of Australia’s great nature based tourism locations.

It is also one of the few places where you can swim with the world’s biggest fish, the Whale Shark which visits Ningaloo Reef from late March until July each year following the mass spawning of coral. Exmouth celebrates by holding its bi-annual Whale Shark Festival.

The Coral Coast and the Ningaloo Marine Park can be easily explored by staying at Exmouth at the top of North West Cape, or its smaller neighbour Coral Bay, 155 kilometres south. Both towns are geared towards tourism, but Coral Bay exudes a more casual relaxed holiday feel.

Most of Coral Bay’s small population is directly involved in catering for the hundreds of tourists that come here every year to catch the winter sun, experience the reef and relax on the beach that is only a stones throw from the front door of your caravan or holiday cottage.






Any time of day you will find people sitting on the beach, swimming or snorkelling on the reef that starts only metres from the shore. The town beach provides safe swimming for children and fish can be seen swimming in shallow water near the shore line, making it a favourite place for families. It also attracts many “grey nomads” judging by the number of retirees you can see sitting on the beach or in the water talking about their travels around Australia.

Dive tours are conducted daily from Exmouth and Coral Bay, but you can also experience the coral gardens of the reef by taking a tour on the glass bottom or submariner boat. For non divers, the submariner and their informative guides bring you in close contact with the underwater world. It is also great for children, who love seeing the fish through the glass. 

At days end ...... sunset walks along the beach......

Golden ripples whisper on the sand

these few words from the WA Department of Environment and Conservation sum it all up - Marine parks and reserves protect Western Australia's underwater wonders from top to bottom. We need marine parks for the same reasons we already have national parks on the land. Together they protect our precious plants and animals, above and below the water line.  
To learn more please go to Nature Base



Do you like the postcard at the beginning of the post? - I created this from one of my images, manipulated in Photoshop Elements with a technique taught in one of Kim's Beyond Layers e-classes.  To check out Kim's classes please go to her blog by clicking here - kimklassencafe
 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed these images and excerpts about Coral Bay.  I would love you to leave a comment - I look forward to hearing from you.

I am linking up to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House - please click on the link to see the work of other wonderful contributors. Mosaic Monday at Little Red House

The power has been off all day today, so I am a little late in connecting! and I know I wrote this a week or so ago - but I so wanted to share some of Coral Bay with you!

I look forward to hearing from you.