Day 16: Nigaloo Reef Adventures (blog from Rich)

Today Kim and I parted company and had two very different days.  Kim spent the day studying for her exams (two weeks away) which wasn’t that hard given the balmy weather and I headed off for a dive adventure on the Ningaloo Reef – the largest fringe reef in Australia which means that the reef is close to shore (unlike the Barrier Reef) but still has all the corals, colours and fish of the Great Barrier Reef.  Undeterred by the broken rib I joined up with the local dive school for a day in the water.

During the day I did two scuba dives on the coral and two snorkel dives.  One of the highlights of the day was diving with the giant manta rays – the company puts a spotter plane up in the air to look for the rays and then guides the dive boat to the location.  Once the ray is spotted, all the divers jump into the water with snorkelling gear, and watch as these rays perform acrobatics in the water swimming in large vertical circles, down to stir up the sand, feed on plankton, then vertically up, around and back to another spot on the sand.  These are completely harmless animals and so it is perfectly safe to sit there on the surface watching these giant ray (some three to four meters across) swimming within a meter of you. (note not my photo below, but this is a manta ray)

In the other dives I saw masses of different corals:  fern, brain, feather, fern and fan corals – all in brilliant colours and in perfectly clear blue water.  Some of the fish were brilliantly coloured gropers, game fish, a number of reef sharks, a wobbegong shark, large turtles and brilliantly coloured angel fish.  In some of the underwater caves I saw eels and crayfish. On the return journey, because the water is so clear, we were able to see from the boat, two species of dolphins, a dugong (rear end looks like a dolphin and the front end looks like an elephant seal) – mammals that only found in Australia.  Diving on a coral reef really showcases the Creator’s imagination and beauty! (again not my photo, but this is what it was like)

To end a beautiful day, Kim and I then went cycling through the desert to a beautiful beach and boat ramp where we watched the sun set over the water (remember in WA the sun sets over the sea) and then went for a sundowner on the lawns of the hotel overlooking the bay.  What a day in paradise!

It was overcast all day today and there were spits of rain, which is most unusual given that Coral Bay has not had rain for three years – nothing like the arrival of the Eckards to bring the rain – but the overcast day was a blessing, otherwise it may have been a bit on the warm side.  Even now, Kim and I are sitting outside, after dark with me in shorts and t-shirt and bare feet, making custard over a gas stove on a perfectly balmy evening.  We couldn’t resist one extra day here, and so tomorrow we will spend time exploring further and getting Kimmy back into the water to do a long snorkel swim.

Few quick notes from Kim:

Well I did make some ground today with the study, but also had the opportunity of doing some people watching which is always entertaining!  I was stunned to see some close neighbours (isn’t everyone close in a caravan park) who have obviously travelled quite some distance to get to this tropical paradise, who chose to sit in their caravan all day long and watch DVD’s!  I was stunned – I HAD to sit still and study – for the greater good – I wonder what their excuse was? What a waste of time and energy and money – why didn’t they just stay home and watch DVD’s!?

Just as that was the most irritating of things, I was also able to witness the cutest of sights – as we have mentioned on numerous occasions there are many grey nomads in this part of the world and today I got to see the sweetest, little wrinkled couple – they had a morning swim – around 10 am they strolled out the caravan park,, hand in hand, with sunblock on their noses, her with her flowery swimming cap, both in their crocs, sunnies and bathers – nothing else – not even towels.  They were laughing and chatting all the way past my spot out towards the beach.  About an hour later back they came, via their van to pick up their toiletries, to the outside shower for a wash off, still laughing and giggling at their in-house jokes and then separate ways into the showers.  The whole exercise was repeated again around 3 pm – even down to the sunblock on their noses (different bathers this time though I did notice!) but still laughing and chatting and holding hands.   I was so struck by their joy in life, the energy that they had even though they were obviously in their late seventies.  I hope that I have that much joie de vivre when I am that age!

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