Coral Bay

Looking for an amazing and unforgettable experience? Then try swimming with the whale sharks, humpback whales, manta rays or snorkel amongst fish, turtles and coral. Coral Bay is the perfect destination for excitement, adventure or just to relax.  A small coastal settlement located 1200 kms north of Perth. Drive or fly by plane to Learmonth 90 mins and then a 90 min drive to Coral Bay. Car hire is available at the airport or pre-book a shuttle transfer. Coral Bay has 2 caravan parks Bayview and Peoples Park and a backpackers accommodation. A small shopping area with a supermarket, delicious bakery,  newsagent and variety store.

July this year, I had the most exhilarating experience of swimming with humpback whales. The weather was a perfect 25 degrees, the ocean was calm and water clear. It was day tour and we had the most amazing experience swimming with 5 pods of humpbacks, the largest pod had 10 in it. It was EPIC as the crew from Ningaloo Reef and Dive boat kept saying.

Snorkelling Ningaloo reef is a fun activity for the whole family. You can hire snorkelling gear from the dive shops and caravan parks, if you don’t have your own. I went for an hour reef snorkel tour with the use of a sea scooter. You expend very little energy using the sea scooter and it is a  fabulous way to see the coral and colourful fish. The sea scooter is easy to manoeuvre, buoyant and has 2 gears, slow and not much faster than slow.

Take a quad bike tour through the pristine, white sand dunes and secret locations. My tour included a stop at Turtle Cove, a ride along the beach and snorkel at Five Fingers Reef to swim with the turtles. The quad bike tour was with Quad Trek Adventures and went for a duration of 2.5 hours.

I took a half-day Manta-Ray tour which also included a swim on the reef, where I was excited to see a leopard shark and a dugong mother and calf. I swam with a 2-3 metre manta ray which was very playful . It was doing barrel rolls right underneath me. Manta Rays do barrel rolls to conserve energy and it is easier for them to feed on plankton.

Sit back and relax at the beach and enjoy this tranquil bay. As Coral Bay is protected by the Ningaloo Reef, it is ideal for families with small children, swimming, paddling and snorkelling. Time your holiday for adventure. The humpback whale season runs from June to August. The whale shark season is from late April to June. Turtle nesting November to February and coral spawning from March to April.