Coral Bay continues to give. Today it was a trip to the outer coral reef aboard the Nhunya-Ku, our glass bottom boat. Our lady skipper and her off-sider got us seated on the boat just after 9am for our three hour tour. The tide was almost at peak height so our captain decided that it would be best to head to the "Canyon" and "Bommie" coral beds for snorkelling before heading to the turtle feeding grounds and in between the two snorkelling area we would be able to have a hot drink and biscuits. Perfect.
This is the first time I have ever snorkelled in open ocean and I was apprehensive but I was also seeing this as a pre-cursor to when we swim with the whale sharks next week. I had to overcome my fear of the deep water. I was grateful to see that there were pool noodles available and also a long "mermaid line" attached to the boat so that I could hold that while I snorkelled. So, I donned my wetsuit and was very grateful for it as the weather has turned windy and cooler. But once I put my feet in the water I was very surprised because the water was actually a lot warmer than it was in the bay. We were given a half hour to snorkel the "Canyon" but I think I only stayed in the water fifteen minutes. The water was a bit choppy and it was making me feel a little queasy. Once I was back on board the boat though I wished I was back in the water. The wind had picked up and started gusting across the boat so it was making it very cold. Everyone was trying to sit on the sunny side of the boat to keep warm. However, the hot drinks (I chose milo) we were served went down an absolute treat and it really did warm us up.
The Bommie coral was our next snorkelling stop. Bommies are corals that just keep growing on top of each other and can be many metres across. Sometimes they even grow to such an extent that they can be exposed at low tide. I didn't snorkel here but the footage that Philip brought back on the GoPro makes me wish I had braved the water. There was just so many schools of fish and I shouldn't be surprised as there are over 500 species of fish in the Ningaloo Reef. Of the 80 species of Parrot Fish worldwide, Coral Bay has 64 of them. Amazing. We spent another half hour in this section of the reef before moving on to the Turtle feeding ground. While we were anchored here the crewman went underneath the glass bottom boat to clean the glass! We marvelled at how long he could hold his breath. Now that's real dedication to the job.
The Turtles were harder to find than you might imagine, or rather, it was harder for the captain to manoeuvre the glass bottom boat so that we could see them when we did spot them. All up we saw half a dozen of the green turtles and one in particular was huge. No swimming with these beautiful creatures as they are very much a protected species.
Three three hours on board our little boat went very fast and I would have to say it was another one of our top tours. Tomorrow it is a leisurely day of kayaking. High tide is not until 10am so we can relax in the morning before heading out. We are just hoping that it is not too windy.
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