What a cosy night in the sack. For the first time I slept under a thermal cover (my sleeping bag which was lovely and cosy, instead of a sheet in the unescapable heat. I have to admit that I am more of a cold weather person, which I have discovered in numerous environments now. It is the humidity really more than the heat that messes with my physiology, I sweat profusely at the best of times and add in the inability for that sweat to evaporate and the whole system has a short circuit and I go into meltdown mode. I can handle the dessert but the tropical humid heat and I am like a fish out of water, or a cat in water might be a better image.
Anyway a nice sleep in then up to meet the tour for the day to go out and try to catch a Whale Shark, I mean look at a Whale Shark (apparently they are too big to get your arms around). I got measured up for some flippers and wetsuit and Dad sat in the corner being a good boy. There was a hold up as the Captain of the boat was assessing the weather (now I do not know about you but when a Captain of a ship or the Pilot of a plane is not too sure whether it is safe to go, I get a bit concerned). After an hour or so they gave the thumbs up and we were off in a bus to meet the Boat, just around the corner at the harbour. It was quite windy and the Coral Bay wind turbines that provide between 50 – 90% of Coral bays power needs were happily spinning away. There were a few cloudbursts in the distance. The boat was a nice single hull boat of about 60feet I guess (I am not very good at guessing boat size, but it was a big one). We cruised out into the sheltered waters of the Ningaloo reef with waves crashing into the outer reef and looking a bit menacing in the context of the Captain taking an hour to decide to go. Out of the little harbour it got very windy and the staff put up wind shelter to keep some of the draft out.
The spotter plane went overhead after we had been on the go for half an hour or so. The plan is that we go out and have a practice snorkel in the sheltered water so they can assess if everyone floats or not, then the spotter plane finds a Whale Shark and off we motor flat out to get to where it has been spotted. The Ningaloo reef creates sheltered water for most of the trip and they duck out into open water to get to the big fish when in the rough vicinity, so even if it is rough off shore most of the trip is sheltered. A good plan. The spotter plane is an essential part of the equation as the sharks are under water and you would never see them from the boat.
We stopped and went for a snorkel, I was dead keen to get in and was first onto the platform at the back and as soon as the word was given in I went. As keen as mustard, I have really enjoyed getting back in the water and was keen to have a look at this reef. We swam around fairly fast following the lead swimmer and practicing looking along the first metre or so of water. This is important as the Whale sharks are swimming along fairly shallow around here and will be in the first 1-3 metres of water, but when snorkelling the natural tendency is to look down, which is usually where the action is on a reef etc. If you are not looking up then the Whale Shark could swim straight past you and you would never see it.
We saw lots of coral in good condition on this part of the reef and the usual variety of interesting and colourful tropical fish, clams, and starfish but the highlight for me was seeing a turtle. This turtle was probably about 1 metre long and was swimming along just in front of me. He or She was quite happy until I swam over the top and this lead to a burst of swimming to get away, obviously was a bit nervous that I might be looking for Turtle soup. It was a great to see a turtle in the flesh like that, and as with a lot of marine animals he was a graceful beast to observe in his natural habitat. Penelope would have loved it.
Once the staff were satisfied that we could all float and move forwards we climbed back on the boat and started motoring North where the Whale Shark had been yesterday, but just as we were getting the briefing about Whale Sharks and swimming with them the boat did a 180 degree turn and started heading back. Great I thought the Whale Shark has been spotting South today, but sadly no the Spotter plane had returned home as the weather was too rough for them to fly through to spot. No Spotter Plane no Whale Shark, no point in continuing so the trip was cancelled. Disappointing.
Back on shore we decided to stay another day as the company offered a free second trip or a voucher redeemable in the next three years for a repeat trip. Dear reader, this place is way out of the way and in the middle of nowhere, which I repeat is a big place in Australia. My initial thoughts were this would be a great place to bring the family for a holiday, and I know Nicky and Mac want to do this some time, we could all come together and have a wonderful family holiday, of course I will be back within three years, but then I remembered just how useless I am at playing Lotto, and how expensive it is travelling this far with 5 kids in tow, and the reality of the unlikely return in the near future dawned on me and hence we decided, there is no time like now, so we will stay for another day and go out again tomorrow.
Carpe Diem!
We headed down to the Hotel, had a coffee and Skyped home. Justin saw we were on line and dialled in, so had a catch up with him and heard about the extreme weather at home. Skyped Nelson with some frustrating drop outs with the Internet at home still playing up, gave up on Skyping the tavern so just phoned. Had lunch at the Hotel, a bit of a disappointing Caesar Salad.
I rented a mask and Snorkel and went for a swim off the beach. The coral reef starts within a few metres of the beach and there are large fish swimming right up at the beach edge. So it was very interesting. The coral was a bit beat up I guess from people standing on it, so it is not quite as good as the reef we snorkelled at this morning. I got a bit cold with the wind after getting out, so spent the rest of the day mooching around not doing very much at all. Did some washing, drank more coffee, then beer and ate some food then bed. Dad and I had a game of table tennis, involved a lot of chasing after the ball. A simple life we lead.
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