Snorkelling the Coral Coast

Whale shark at Exmouth

We have dusted off the wetsuits, snorkel and goggles and the flippers ready to explore the life underwater along the coral coast of Western Australia. I have been looking forward to being able to dive in off the beach and find some great snorkelling. And the snorkelling has lived up to its expectations, we have seen so many species of fish, bright coloured, various shapes and sizes and the coral species have been amazing and colourful too.



Our first stop was Exmouth. Stopping at the information centre on the way thru there was not much else to see in town. So we headed out towards Cape Range National Park. The set up for camping in the National Park is that you have to line up at the park entrance at 7am and when the ranger arrives at 8am he will allocate any available sites and there are no guarantees that you will get a site. We decided this was a complete waste of time and effort and found ourselves our own bush camp outside the National Park. We have found that the camping in Western Australia has been a bit like that, whether you want to camp at a caravan park, rest area or bush camp everyone is lining up early to get a spot so you don't miss out. We have been very lucky and not had to do this and having a 4wd and camper we are able to go places that the grey nomads are not interested or able to go to.

Early morning rainbow

The next day we spent exploring and enjoying the National Park. (Can I mention here that as we drove into the Park just before 8am there were already 13 campers waiting in line for a site, unbelievable) Driving thru the National Park we were lucky enough to spot a beautiful rainbow out at sea. Our first stop was Yardie Creek, the girls were keen to do the walk along the top of the gorge. We spotted a few red Kangaroos, did some rock hopping, found some interesting looking holes in the gorge wall and some birds in their nests on the gorge walls. The Yardie creek had turtles and fish which we could see from the top.

End of the Yardie Creek Gorge walk

Learning about life around Yardie Creek

Spotting a red kangaroo

   

 

Snorkelling in Torquoise Bay

Our next spot to enjoy was Torquoise Bay to snorkel the famous Nigaloo Reef. The water was so clear and the reef was only a few metres offshore. We started at one end and drifted with the current to the edge of the bay. There was so much fishlife, we saw so many species of fish and some gorgeous coloured fish.  Kate was most excited when she saw a fish like Nemo's friend Dory. Emma loved seeing the blue coral and the trumpet fish. Darrin and I were just amazed at the masses of fish life.

After our snorkel we enjoyed soaking up some sun on the white sands and the girls rode their boogie boards along the current.

Another last snorkel before we said goodbye to the magic Torquoise Bay.

Snorkelling in Torquoise Bay

Finishing the day with a visit to the Cape Range visitors centre looking at the interactive displays and watching a DVD on life in Nigaloo Reef.

Coral Bay

The next day we drove to Coral Bay to do some more snorkelling in Nigaloo Reef. Once again here we put on our westsuits and walked out past the point of the Bay and jumped in the water. The current drifted us back into the bay over the reef. Here the reef formations were different again and once again masses of colourful fish. We saw some very large fish here and they were not shy, there were large Spangled Emperor which followed us around. Once again another fantastic snorkel.

Our camp at Maggies beach





 Keen to find a spot to set up camp on a beach for a few days we headed just South of Coral Bay to Warroora Station. We found a top spot at Maggies beach which was a safe swimming beach and had an awesome snorkelling spot just up the road. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and there was another group of families camped there and were very friendly. They lived in Panawonica and this is one of their favourite camp spots. Sunday was fathers day so Emma cooked some pancakes for breakfast, they were yummo. We spent the rest of the morning walking along the beach finding shells, starfish and coral washed up the beach. Darrin and the girls tried to catch a crab in the rocks but it proved too quick for them.

Walking along the white sandy beach

We spent a wonderful afternoon lazing aroung camp, enjoying the sunshine beautiful beach. Kate sorted and played with her massive shell collection and Emma went for a boggie board ride with the other kids at the camp.
We did go for a short drive to check out some other campgrounds in the late afternoon and managed to find some nice soft sand to get bogged in. So out came the Max Trax and the shovel to help us out. The Max trax were an impulse buy at an ARB open day, and they have been one of the best things we have bought for this trip.


Kate's shell collection



Ready for a snorkel

The next morning we all headed north along the beach, where three rock formations stood up out of the water. There was no current here and the snorkelling was awesome, we saw turtles, loads of fish and corals. One of the most exciting thing was seeing all the massive starfish, most were blue in colour and Kate took great delight in diving down to touch one.  There were so many different species of coral and the colours were just magnificant.

Photo opportunity with the boogie boards

After leaving Warroora station we headed for the blowholes just north of Carnarvon. I remember this area for great snorkelling on our first trip so was keen to check it out again. Stopping at the famous King Waves Kill sign at the T junction we could not go past this photo opportunity.
Next stop were to have a look at the blowholes. These are the first that the girls have seen and they were truely amazed at the amount of force the water had as it roared up the hole in the rock.

Blowholes

Snorkelling the Aquarium

Further along we found Point Quobba and the bay which provides fantastic snorkelling. They call one section the aquarium. Keen to see why we put on our wetsuits and snorkelling gear and grabbed some bread to feed the fish. Kate was the first in and then Emma, I could see the hundreds of fish surrounding the girls hungry for the bread. It was an amazing sight. The girls had great delight in being totally surrounded by the hundreds of fish and being able to hand feed and touch them. I could not believe how many fish there were in the aquarium, the perfect name for this place. There were so many species and sizes of fish to see, we had such an amazing snorkel.
We decided to camp here overnight so we could snorkel again at high tide to cover a larger area. The next morning we were up and keen once again. It was the most amazing snorkelling I have ever done. The colours in the coral were just magnificant, so bright and so many different colours. There were so many massive fish. We saw a number of puffer/toad type fish and they were massive (more than half the size of Kate). So many fish hiding under ledges. We saw some lion fish, barracuda, trumpet fish, large star fish, wrasse, parrot fish, butterfly fish, eels and hundreds of other fish species.