Diving at Coral Bay and snorkelling with Manta Rays

Coral Bay is about 160 kms south of Exmouth. We had been wondering when the Emu warning sign would become a reality

and on the way here we see our first Emu.

The Ningaloo Reef comes close to shore here, so close that you can hear the waves breaking on the edge of the reef. The whole area is a marine sanctuary and so the fish and coral are protected from the hunting instincts of the average Australian. The bay is very popular as a holiday spot, partly because of the lovely climate and partly because

it is very beautiful, sunsets in particular.

August is Manta Ray season and so two dives have been scheduled plus a snorkel with the Manta Rays (Paul) and a Glass Bottomed Boat trip to see the Coral (Pat).

Dive 1 – Lottie’s Lagoon

A routine dive over coral blocks and around numerous fish including a few sharks. Nothing remarkable but quite pleasant. A difficult entry in that a hose came off my BCD and I could not inflate it but eventually this was sorted out. The only thing of note was a Scorpion Fish hiding under a piece of coral and a number of strange “sack like” objects on the sea bed.

 

Snorkelling with Manta Rays

The Coral Bay area is one of four areas of the world known for the near permanent presence of Manta Rays. The type that live here are not the largest but still are impressive in size, being up to 4 metres between wing tips.

Because of their sensitivity to being disturbed and the possible over eagerness of divers to interact with them, access is very strictly controlled. Coral Bay has been declared a marine conservation reserve which means that there are very strict rules in force and certain sites within the reserve have additional rules applied to them – such as no diving, anchoring of boats, straying outside certain routes through the reserve etc.

A spotter plane was sent up to find the rays and this directed our boat to within 50 metres of where the rays were circling. On this occasion the rays were at a “cleaning station” – a particular spot in the reef where the rays go to have their teeth and gills and skin cleaned by other fish.

At one of these spots, the Manta Rays swim around in a fairly wide circle with their jaws open and the flaps in front of their mouths extended. As they do so, small cleaning fish dart in and clean (eat) the dirt from their teeth, gills, skin etc. They continue to circle until they are cleaned or hungry or something sends them off elsewhere.

We were divided into two groups, briefed on how to fin out to the snorkel site and how to behave when there, threatened with all sorts of repercussions if we broke the rules and then told to slide into the water and gently swim 100m to where one of the dive guides was waiting.

I swam out and as I was approaching the guide, looked down and beneath me was a large female Manta Ray gently gliding through the water but coming towards me, mouth open, cleaning fish clearly visible.

Immediately behind it (sometimes adjacent to it) was another large Manta Ray doing exactly the same thing.

After about five minutes, the groups swapped over and when we swapped back, we got at least 15 minutes hanging in the water looking down at these enormous animals ignoring us and lazily swimming round and round just beneath us (about 10 metres away).

 

Their only enemies are Tiger Sharks and humans.

Individual mantas are recognised by the unique pattern of spots on their underneath - no two mantas have the same pattern.

It was an amazing experience.

Dive 2 – Asho’s Gap

An interesting dive around a set of very shallow coral blocks which were in very good condition. Part way round I came across a shoal of fish which seemed to be ploughing the sea bed as these two pictures

show – you can quite clearly see the sand thrown up by the ploughing action. There were also a few reef sharks and a nurse shark hiding within a cave and not too happy at being disturbed by divers.

Some of the coral had started to die and collapse showing how it had grown during its life. The return leg of the dive was very hard due to an adverse current – never was the sight of a bow anchor line more welcome. My 83rd dive in just over two years was completed.

Pat’s trip on a Coral Viewing boat provided a dry way of seeing

the coral through a large glass window in the bottom of the boat.

Diving on the Ningaloo Reef – Part 2

Two dives today (Thursday) near the Murion Islands which are about 8k off Exmouth. To get there, one passes a secret radio station whose tallest aerial is the third tallest structure (378.5 metres) in the southern hemisphere.

It is used to communicate with submarines around one third of the world using very long wavelength signals.

 

Fraggle Rock is a reef of one of the two islands and comprises a reef and a number of bombies. On the way out to the reef we saw a number of whales breaching in the distance and then a number swimming directly to our dive site. The dive site was unremarkable in that it consisted of the usual coral outcrops and some shoals of fish. The reef was relatively close to the shore and hence the water at our shallow depths (around 14 m) was significantly affected by underwater surge – the currents flows backwards and forwards in time with the waves breaking on the reef. This made diving in a straight line impossible but one soon learnt to fin with the surge and relax with the reverse. Some surges were very strong and hence one moved at some speed over the coral.

Suddenly we heard the sound of whales all around us. Although we were not going to see them, we could hear them pinging us and also them singing to each other.

The following fairly poor video was an attempt to take a film of a very large shoal of fish. However if you listen carefully (and ignore the video), you can hear the sound of whales in the background.

Dive Two was at Coral Bowl off the southern Murion Island.

This was a large coral shaped bowl, relatively shallow but with some very nice coral. Being relatively close to the shore, the dive site has a lot of surge deep down and this made diving quite exciting, particularly when diving through some narrow passage ways and tunnels.

The coral is fed by the significant amount of nutrients the moving water brings through and being relatively close to the surface, it gets a lot of sunlight. There was a nice sea anemone and the following short video shows the swirling current quite well.

Pat went out on a late afternoon Whale Watching / Sunset trip (on the same boat I had been on earlier). Humpbacked whales will quite numerous and a number came close enough to the boat to have their picture taken.

A good day for both of us – off to Coral Bay now for some more diving and coral watching.

Diving on the Ningaloo Reef – Part 1

Sorry non divers but this is another diving blog entry full of fish pictures and things of interest to a limited audience. So turn off here if you do not want to see a video of a turtle swimming and pictures of yet more fish.

The North West Coast of Australia is known to divers as one of those places you must dive at some time in your diving life. This is because of the Ningaloo Reef which runs very close down this section of the coast, far closer to the coast than the better known Barrier Reef on the eastern seaboard. Being amongst the most isolated and distant parts of Australia, the reef is less visited and is therefore in good condition. The reef is also known for attracting Whale Sharks, Manta Rays, Whales, Turtles and many other great fish.

Lighthouse Bay was the location for three dives – so called because of the lighthouse which overlooks the bay and from which you can see part of the

reef (the breaking waves shows where the reef is)

dives. The first dive was along both sides of a ridge which was home to a variety of fish and sea snakes including a huge potato cod which refused to pose for a photograph

 

and some relatively distant sharks.

Dive Two (Gullivers) was interesting in that there were at least three

sharks sleeping in the reef whom we were able to approach

plus numerous fish

and some very dense shoals which were interesting to swim through

The coral was nothing special (by Red Sea standards)

but the Star Fish were far better.

and there was a particularly good example of an Anemone with a Comic Fish living in it.

 

At the end of the dive a new hazard appeared and that was a large number of stinging jelly fish who were swimming towards and then

over our exit point. These jelly fish have very long filament tentacles hanging down from them which they use to catch small fish, which they fist  incapacitate (through stinging) and then draw up for food

The problem for us was that their tentacles got tangled with the boat stern line up which we ascend and therefore they were stuck in above in our path. The way to move them on is to purge significant volumes of air from below them, forcing them to rise and move out of the way. Despite the fact that my buddy was running low on air, we manage to get them to move off and ascended with only a few minor stings (which were neutralised with vinegar).

Dive Three (Labyrinth) was particularly interesting in that for the first time I had a close look at a “cleaning station”. This is a particular

location in a reef or sea area to which certain types of fish go for cleaning by other fish. In this case, there was a large bat fish which was having its gills cleaned. The look of ecstasy on the Bat Fish’s face made the dive well worth while.

Then we came across some sleeping turtles

and a swimming turtle which I was able to follow for some distance

Two more dives tomorrow.

1400 kms and Unwanted Flora and Fauna

If there is one lesson the world should have learnt from Australia (apart from the fact that they do not like loosing at Cricket), it is that bringing in (deliberately or accidently) animals and plants not native to a country is a bad idea. Officially there are 56 introduced invasive animal species which the Australians now regret introducing or allowing to get into the country. Amongst the list of immigrants to Australia since it was “discovered” by Europeans are:


Rabbits introduced in 1788 for food and hunting and now 200 million plus are wreaking havoc
Camels introduced in 1849 to carry loads across the desserts and when no longer needed, simply let go. 1.1 million feral camels are now a major nuisance
The infamous Cane Toad were introduced in 1935 to eliminate insects which were devastating the sugar cane harvest. They were too fat to jump high enough to catch the insects so set about eating whatever was around. Now 200 million of this poisonous toad are spreading across Australia and killing many animals in their path
The Red Fox introduced in 1871 for recreational hunting plus feral cats, horses (aka Brumby), donkeys, African wild asses, pigs, water buffalos, geckos and more


The list of birds includes the Mynah (introduced to control locusts but now spreading diseases, mites and eating native bird eggs); the Rock Pigeon whose faeces damage historic buildings; Starlings and Sparrows etc


The list of Freshwater Fish includes Trout, Perch, Loach and Carp which now dominate their rivers to the exclusion of native fish.


The list of insects include Honey Bees (deliberately introduced and now taking over habitats of native insects) and accidental introductions including Fire Ants (poisonous sting); Yellow Ants; and the Elm Leaf Beetle which destroys Historic Elms (which were themselves introduced)


There is a long list of weeds including Border grass which was introduced as a fast growing grass for cattle to eat. The problem is that Australian cattle do not like it and when burnt, it does so at a high temperature which destroys native grass seeds leaving its seeds to spread easier.

Blackberries were introduced for food but now are wild and fast growing in many areas, again destroying the habitat of native species.
and so the list goes on.


At your port of entry into the country, you are sprayed with insecticide and have to declare all vegetables, meats etc and at some state borders, you are stopped and searched. Perhaps these efforts will stop future uninvited incursions but one also worries about the good ideas that scientists still get about introducing new cures for recently introduced illnesses.


Exmouth – nearly as far west as Australia goes


Western Australia comprises 33% of the land mass of Australia but only 7% (1.9 million) of the people. To use the word “large” to describe this State is to choose too small a word as the map below shows.

The approximate distance between Broome (where we were last Thursday) and Exmouth (where we are now) is 1400 kms (roughly the distance between Lands End and John O’Groats). Generally speaking, much of the countryside between these two points is less than interesting being made up of endless scrub and brush with the very occasional town which in this area of the world is usually devoted to minerals of one sort or another.
Never-the-less, the size of Australia still produces abnormally large attractions such as 80 Mile Beach (guess why it has that name) where we stayed for a few nights on the way to Exmouth. This place is approximately 250km north of Port Hedland and 365 km south of Broome, there are roadhouses a few kms away from the turn-off to the beach (from both directions) where you can refuel - some fuel is available on the beach but it is very expensive. The beach is a favourite spot with shore fishermen and we asked one what they were fishing for and were told “Red Fin” and “Blue Nosed something or other, it does not matter as long as we can eat it”, the problem was that the fish were not biting whilst we were there.


The beach is rarely crowded

80 mile beach in one direction

80 mile beach in the other direction
and there are usually more birds than people

The beach is covered with shells. Not pearl shells but every other sort

imaginable and apparently the shell density gets even greater further west.
Sam – below is a picture of some of the shells that Nana Pat collected to bring home to York.



Like its near neighbour Broome, it also has wonderful sunsets with the sky changing colour, not only as the sun goes down but also from all

along the horizon. As usual, a group of people gather on the beach and watch in silent awe as nature goes to sleep.


We stayed at two places on our trek west. 460 kms (or two CDs of David Copperfield) west, one gets to Karratha which is a typical mining town in the middle of nowhere. It was built to house mine workers and  the guide book sums up its interest to tourists by saying “there is little to detain the traveller………”.


272 kms further on (one CD of David Copperfield) is the Nanutarra Roadhouse. Again there is little to detain the traveller but we are forced to stay here because Exmouth was full and our accommodation is booked for the following day. However, the Ashburton river adjacent to the camp site provided a nice picture at sunset

and we had some interesting conversations about Australia, Aboriginal issues, Europe etc with fellow campers.


It was then 274 kms more to Exmouth where we arrived in time to book some diving before checking in to a rather nice hotel for three nights. All of the campsites at Exmouth are full but we had booked a hotel in order to provide a more comfortable base whilst I dive and Pat goes on a Whale Watching Cruise.


PS: 80 Mile Beach is actually 212 km long (132 miles) but they thought it was only 80 miles long when it was discovered.