Week 2 Australia photos

So our 2nd week in Australia we flew up the west coast to Exmouth for several days of diving on Ningaloo Reef. Ningaloo is very remote and far less trafficked than the Great Barrier Reef. Because of this, we'd read a lot of online forums saying Ningaloo was even better diving than the GBR. Plus, we were heading there during the annual whale shark migration, the world's largest and wiliest fish that  has been eluding Brian for years. So needless to say, we were pretty darn excited for this leg of the trip.

So our first afternoon we simply drove around the Cape and enjoyed Jurabi Point beach almost entirely to ourselves. The first time seeing the Indian Ocean for either of us!

Softest sand ever!

Surprisingly COLD!!

Termite mound...they were everywhere!

So the next morning it's off to the dive shop! Where we are told the dives are cancelled because of the weather. It was a beautiful morning, but eventually an impressive wind storm did come thru town. Frustratingly, day 2 of diving was cancelled for the same reason, even though it turned out to be a beautiful day. So we just lazed at the beach again.

There was a huge dune which kept us quite entertained...

FINALLY, we got to dive the next day.  Sadly, it started out as an utter disappointment. The visibility was horrible because of the earlier wind storm. We saw absolutely nothing. We froze in our 3mm suits (which the shop told us that was what everyone dove in, even though everyone we saw was in 5mm!) It was really cold, and my mood was about the same. Miserably waiting for the spotter plane to find a whaleshark, I would have gladly called it day. But miraculously the sun came out and we found two whalesharks!

A small one...about 18 feet or so. They can get up to 40'

 Then it was down south to Coral Bay for one more day of diving and hopefully some manta ray sightings.

Driving left-handed stick! Didn't kill it once!

Rush Hour

Coral Bay was essentially a giant RV park with a general store, gas station, one restaurant, a backpacker hostel, and a tiny motel. We stayed in the motel, which had recently just put in plumbing for potable water! Thankfully the reef and visability was far better in Coral Bay. We saw a manta ray and had a very long swim with it. We both wish we'd stayed in Coral Bay the whole time rather than Exmouth, but what can you do. 

Female, about 12' with a very fresh shark bite!

Overall though, neither of us were blown away by the dives in comparison to other places we've been. We're glad we finally got to see manta rays and whale sharks, but aren't convinced it was worth the trek to the middle of nowhere, especially with all the cancelled dives. So bring on the Great Barrier Reef!