Turquoise drift - Exmouth

After our Broome adventures, we visited inland Karijini NP, which was stunning. Then we headed back to the blue waters. Or should I say turquoise waters? It was time to finally visit the Ningaloo Reef!

Turquoise Bay beach

The Ningaloo reef sits on Australia's west coast, and is far less visited than the Great Barrier Reef. But supposedly at least as beautiful. This is one of the main reason we really wanted to see Ozzie's west coast. 

One of the really good things about the Ningaloo is, that it is a fringing reef, so it really close to the coast. (The GBR is always at least a boat ride away. ) We decided to start in Exmouth, on its northern end.

Turquoise Bay Area corals just under water

When we arrived in Exmouth, we expected a bit of a resort town, but nothing like that. It's a sleepy village, though very expensive at it. 

Exmouth Bay is known for its whale shark swims (but the season ends in July), whale watching (but we just did that a few days before in Broome) and of course diving! 

Happily eating fish

We booked a 2 dive boat tour with Exmouth dive centre. Though is wasn't very well organised, the dives themselves were really nice. We saw an olive sea snake on both dives, good sized potato cods and many nudibranches. On the second dive we were caught in shoals of millions of glass fish. They're tiny, but they block sight and light. But most special about these dives? Whale song! The whole time we heard them. Magical really.

On our way back to the marina, we even saw a few, just in front of our boat! Mama was showing off, breaching for us, and the calf tried to imitate her. But he needs to practice a bit more, but we know now that humpbacks do swim belly up...

Abundance 

After these dives, we decided we simply needed an underwater camera. So what do you do then? You guessed right: we now own a go pro. Bought in the most expensive place we've seen them so far. Because the next dive will hopefully include manta rays, and if it does we have to record that. But first: practise how to use it. 

The Cape Range NP just west of Exmouth provide the perfect opportunity for that. Here you can snorkel right over the reef, right off the beach.

Cabbage corals at the drift 

Our first snorkel was in Turquoise Bay. We started in the 'safe' area, the little bay, just 2 meters deep without currents. It was pretty, with massive corals and many fish, we even saw a turtle! The corals had such pretty colours in these shallow waters. 

But, maybe because of the strong winds, the water was quite murky. 

Look at those colours

Our next snorkel was at the 'advanced' area: theTurquoise Bay drift snorkel. You enter the water on the southern end, then let the current carry you over the bommies. You have to get out of the current in time, before it sweeps you through the gap into the ocean. 

This snorkel the water was a lot clearer, but we drifted very quickly, probably because off the string winds. But a lovely Go Pro practice snorkel, with pics to prove it! 

Shoal of fish right at the beach