What an early start. My alarm went off at 5.15am urghhhh. We got ready quickly and crept into the kitchen to have breakfast, trying not to disturb Sheila and John. We left on the dot of 6.15am for our drive down to Coral Bay. We allowed 2-hours but with Colin’s rather speedy driving we did it in an hour and a half (and didn’t hit any ‘roos on the way)!
The drive was through the bush and on our journey we did not see more than 4 vehicles. There were mile upon mile of bright red termite nests across the bush and the occasional sheep to break up the monotony and no mobile signal at all.
Today is the day we hoped to see manta rays... and swim with them. We got kitted out in our wetsuits which fitted really well and unlike previous occasions I have worn one, I could actually breathe this time which was nice. There were about 18 other people on our trip so a nice small group.
We headed to the jetty by mini bus and quickly transferred to the boat. The way that a lot of these trips work is that the companies use spotter planes to find rays and whales and then radio in to the boats so they can speed over. Everything is tightly regulated in Australia so we were confident that we were not harming or disturbing the marine life - we only book eco-tourism companies. The boat headed out to the reef and we went for our first proper snorkel. The current was so strong that we had to hold onto a mermaid line whilst everyone got into the water - it was very cold! However the marine life and corals were amazing. Staghorn and bombie corals surrounded by colourful fish. I felt chuffed to recognise parrot fish only to learn that is the generic name and there are many varieties. After a long snorkel we were back on board, this time with the spotter plane above. It soon found us a manta ray and we rushed to the location and following our guides (who keep their arms in the air in the direction of the ray, we had to paddle as fast as possible to keep up - they are very fast. The first time I caught a glimpse of the ray which was good. The second time I had the honour (and apparently it doesn’t often happen) of the manta ray flipping over, changing direction and swimming directly beneath me - this is what the word ‘awesome’ was created for. It was huge - about 4 meters across and initially moving slowly so I could follow above (I seemed to be the only person with it at this stage) but then with a couple of flaps it shot away. Excellent.
We had a few more swims with the ray and each time I got to see it, sometimes close up and sometimes from a distance. This was brilliant, what we had hoped and planned for many months ago and we have now achieved with a little reorganisation. Despite bringing Chris’s underwater camera we did not use it as it is difficult enough to keep up with the rays let alone try and photograph them. I took this photograph of Coral Bay reef on our return journey - the water in crystal clear and the waves breaking in the distance mark the very edge of the end of the reef before the open waters... nothing then until you come to the coast of Africa.
We drove the hour and a half back and ate again at the Game Fishermens’ Club - another great meal but we were so tired and thought it must be very late... it was literally just 7.00pm. This is the only time that I have gone to bed consistently around 9.30-10.00pm.
