Coral Bay

Coral Bay is all about the coral. The town is basically 2 caravan parks, a couple of tour operators and some services to support it all - a couple of gift shops, bakery, newsagent/PO, restaurant and IGA. And there is a very good reason it is all about the coral. You can walk straight off the beach onto the fringing reef, filled with hard corals and a plethora of fish.

We spent 3 days at Coral Bay, with the first two pretty windy and not very pleasant for swimming or snorkelling, and yet we snorkelled every day. The kids didn't snorkel as the water was too cold for them, so Greg and I took it in turns snorkelling and watching them.

We did a 2 hour glass bottom boat and snorkelling tour, which was great as it took us further out than we could have swum ourselves, and the water was so much clearer out deeper. It also meant that the kids could see loads of fish and coral without getting wet. We went out with Miss Coral Bay III for our glass bottom boat tour and they were great. The two young ladies running the tour looked after Tilda and Rory on the boat, when they both were too cold to swim, so that Greg and I could snorkel without having to take it in turns or miss out. They were great with the kids and let them feed the big snapper that hang around the boats. The kids had a great time and we did too.

There's not a lot to write about Coral Bay as it is a small town and all we did was snorkel, so I'll just share some pics of the beautiful water, fish and corals.

On Mon, Wed and Friday they do fish feeding on the beach. There's a short talk and then they give everyone a small handful of fish food and the fish swarm in between your legs. They are a spangled snapper. They feel all slimy when they touch your legs, according to Tilda.

They really do get close!

Around the Bay

Through the glass on the boat

Snorkeling on the tour
These photos are so much more clear than those close to shore as the sand isn't all churned up like near shore. I got so lucky on this trip as I saw a cleaner wrasse station with a Cleaner Wrasse cleaning a Parrot Fish and a couple of other fish hanging around waiting. I also saw angel fish, butterfly fish, a couple of different parrot fish, chromis, another wrasse I didn't recognise, a tang, a black spotted sweetlips (not sure what it's actually called), loads of banded humbugs, 2 blue spotted rays and a whole host of other fish. The colours are amazing - so bright and multi-hued.

We also went 4WD a bit north of the town. We were looking for a couple of other snorkeling spots but we couldn't get to them as the sand was too deep on the track for us to go through alone. We just didn't want to risk getting stuck, but we did find a very beautiful beach.