Turquoise Bay

We had another cloud covered sky this morning and the range to our East was shrouded in fog. However, by 10am the cloud had lifted and given way to a brilliant blue sky so we headed to Turquoise Bay for a drift snorkel. In this beautiful spot the coral reef starts just meters from the shoreline and is sometimes only a foot under the water surface.

Waves wash over the outer reef and dump large amounts of water which then escape through one or two gaps in the reef. This process causes a strong current in some parts, especially right on shore near the point where snorkelers are warned that they could get swept out.

The reef is a fascinating marine habitat created by many different types of coral which have grown to a very large size over many decades. The coral provide protection and food for many tropical fish of varying sizes. The largest we saw today was a 2mt Sand Shark, the smallest a bright blue Damsel fish barely and inch long.

Once a year, exactly 8 or 9 days after full moon in March, all coral spawn and release billions upon billions of eggs simultaneously. Lots of fish come in to feed on these eggs with the most spectacular being the Whale Shark and this area renewed as the best area in the world to study those animals. It was only last Friday that Ningaloo Reef was given world heritage status. Hopefully this will keep the oil & gas giants out of the park as they are already knocking on the door with test drilling and exploration.

Snorkelling these reefs is like swimming in an aquarium. I have done some scuba diving but I have never in my life seen an area so full of all kinds of marine life. One of the prettiest today was probably the Banner fish, best known for it's role as "Gill" in the movie Nemo - yes, we also saw Nemo and Dory. About 3mt under water all colours disappear and the world looks green & white but due to the shallow reef near the shore one can admire the tropical fish in their beautiful blue, yellow, red and pink outfits.

Apparently the coral spawning can go wrong when the wind blows the eggs into shore where they decompose and this process takes up so much oxygen that most other creatures, including coral, suffocate. Last time this occurred there were millions of dead fish washed up on the shore.

Right in shore, with water only shin high, we admired dozens of Dart hanging around people's feet and feeding on things in the sand which people stirred up. Garfish were also zooming around in the shallows and the odd Emperor could beed seen sitting in the sand.

Today I spotted a Telstra phone booth with a view (see photo) - one could easily spend hours in there and just admire the view.

The day concluded with a nice sunset over the Indian Ocean which we admired from a spot just behind the caravan. Looking out to see we can clearly see huge waves rising and rolling on the outer reef and we are reliably informed that this wave is one of the most famous surfing waves in the world referred to as "The Hammerhad" amongst surfers. There are a few people in our camp that are here just to surf this wave. They have a little tinny and when the wave is working get out there and surf this large thing way out there.

All in all it was another brilliant day and we have learnt lots of new things and seen a little bit more of this fascinating world that surrounds us.