Thursday 19th July 2012
Today we headed down to Coral Bay to do a Manta Ray interaction tour with an Eco-conservation tour group. Our skipper Fraser and our two guides, Natalia and Sarah welcomed us aboard and gave us a quick safety run-down before we headed to the shallow inner reef for a snorkel orientation.
After the current of yesterday, I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of the exertion that would be required today considering I already had quite sore shoulders and thighs and Greg also had a slightly sore neck from having to hold against the wind in the Ultra-light yesterday as well, but - never a couple to be put off, we donned our gear (this time we had those super-sexy wet suits) and the water was only 21*C (4*C less than it was at Exmouth).
Once in though, wow what wonderful sights:
Our first Manta was quite elusive and shy
This 2nd beautiful Manta was much more content to stay around us and the crew knew the manta quite well as it is very often seen in these shallower waters, preferring not to travel to far.
After our time with the two Mantas we had some lunch while Fraser took us to another section of reef with some particularly pretty coral and fish.
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| Not sure what variety this specimen is! |
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| or this either (possibly a mammal of some sort) |
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| This blue spot ray was captured nicely by Sarah (one of our guides) |
Blue Green Chromis by the hundreds in this staghorn coral
Several Tridacna & Squamous clams were seen in this area also.
There was a huge variety of coral formations, mostly hard corals, and lots of open sand areas between the bommies.
The fish were abundant, both large and small, and of an amazing variety also.
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The pretty parrot fish had wonderfully bright
colours and it was quite surprising to see such
a large array of High fin Bannerfish and Moorish
Idols in the one bommie (unfortunately my
Nice Blue Linkia (water here was only about 2 feet above the top of the coral)
Well, we left this wonderful playground on Sunday morning, heading back South with the intention of making our way back home again, taking a slightly different route and deciding to save The Top End to do with some family and friends......
We will stop overnight again in Carnavon, and then travel to Geraldton and then make our way inland to Mount Magnet and down to Kalgoorlie/Boulder, so stay tuned for the next installment [without pretty sea creatures I might add, but who knows what we'll find in this big country :) ]
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