Coral Bay

Another beautiful WA beach! They are pretty “speccy” over here.

Looking out from the sand - shallow, dark bit is coral and waves
breaking on the reef, that protects the bay, and makes it safe for
swimming and snorkelling - although the water is getting a little
 cooler now!

Coral Bay is a resort town – in the nicest possible way! I think it exists because over many years it has been an excellent fishing spot, which has developed into a popular holiday destination.  Coral Bay has the central main street which you drive along on entry to the town, with only a few minor streets of to the sides with the odd ‘mansion’ and lots of fishing shacks!

Alongside the main street is a couple of caravan parks, a backpackers accommodation and a couple of shopping strips and fuel pumps. Best of all, no high rise and it all seems very laid back and casual. On the RHS is a beautiful expansive bay of blue water and white sand. This is the kind of  place that you could stay for a few weeks, lazing in the sun, wandering along the foreshore and the sand, swimming in the shallows, snorkelling above the coral and throwing a line in! We stayed for four days! (plenty of other nice places to see still!)

Beautiful coloured water. Where the light coloured water
finishes there was a big 'drop off' that you could plunge into
for snorkelling.

As the name suggests, there is coral in abundance and fish everywhere. It is within the Ningaloo Marine Park, with only certain area through it where you can fish  – and according to the locals the fish know where the line is! They zoom up to the ‘imaginary’ line in the sea and do a sharp 90-180 degree turn to avoid the risk of being caught. It is an amazingly beautiful place for snorkelling. Again, it is within the reef, so very calm, clear water. The bay has a shallow edge, with a quite clearly defined “drop off”, but still clear, blue, blue water. Once in this deeper area, with the snorkels ‘donned’ there is great coral to view and fish in abundance. Parrot fish, angel fish, the odd “nemo’ (clown fish), just to name a few of the amazing colourful variety of fish. There is also a spot in the coral called the “Lavender Patch”, which is just like looking at a lavender plantation above ground. Amazing! Again, the ability just to see these things a few steps from the waters edge, makes these beaches pretty special in our opinion
 

Snapper come in for regular 3.30pm fish feeding
on the main beach at Coral Bay - weaving in and
 out of your legs in the water



Again, we caught up with some friends we had met at the last few places.



Front to back: Laura, Jed (hating having his photo taken), Emily & Lily



Around the bay, looking for baby reef sharks in their known nursery area.
We didn't see any - but it was a nice walk!



The Coral Bay boat launching facility -
the dark 'cloud' in the water was a massive
school of fish!


 

Merv, the 300kg groper, who lives at the boat ramp. The incoming
fishing boats provide a few tasty, easy titbits  for the diet. It is a
little hard to get the idea of his size, but rest assured he was massive!

Coral Bay will also be remembered for:

• Happy hour at the Coral Bay Pub with friends - O'Sullivan's and Chris & Dan
• Catching up with Orr's again
• Crossing paths with Bruce and Sylvia for the third time
• Yummy bacon and eggs for breakfast (and forgetting to pick up the spray oil, barby mate and gas lighter from the BBQ area!!). Hopefully someone is making good use of them.