Perfection! If a little cool on getting in!!
Turns out there is a current coming up from the Southern Ocean close to Cape Range National Park that is quite refreshing and a significant change of pace from the 28 degree water at Broome! The current mixes with the warm Leeuwin current heading south in some parts better than others so it really did make some patches of the reef quite pleasant after you got used to it and others very chilly with hints of the artic about them! Ok, I may be a little soft on the underbelly after our northern travels!
Cape Range National Park and it's stunning adjacent Ningaloo Reef were easily in our top 5 for the trip. Maybe even top 3. One afternoon in particular with a beautiful sunset over the perfectly still water was truly a taste of paradise. We spent a night in the local Lighthouse Caravan park, while waiting for a place to open up in Cape Range (It was school holidays). We then had night in Kurrajong campsite and 2 nights in a very quiet site called North Mandu. We had been moving for so long it felt like pure luxury to be staying in one place for two nights! We snorkelled the near to where the Spences were camped at Osprey Bay (OK), Oyster stacks (spectacular but too shallow for comfort even at high tide), and Turquoise Bay (spectacular and plenty of space!). We didn't even drive over to see the gorges, let alone have a swim or a paddle there. We have to save something for next time. I have never experienced such wonderful snorkeling straight off the beach (no two hour boat cruise) snorkeling where you just let the current carry you along then get back out and do it all over. The kids all took to it really well, aside from the usual intermittant technical difficulties with masks not fitting or snorkels letting in water etc. It was a lot less stressful with Dom in his lifejacket- Paul and I didn't need to watch so closely to make sure everyone made it out of the water. We had the pleasure of seeing heaps of spectacular fish, a few reef sharks, an octopus and a squid, Paul even got a sea snake on his tally.
I was out with the Spences one afternoon and turned to Rose to ask if she had spotted any whales and literally halfway through my sentence I had to stop and say "there's one!" and we all enjoyed some spoutings and splashings etc, which was the first time for me this year. Amazingly the next day when everyone was over for dinner the exact same sort of thing happened with me saying to the kids "I wonder if we can spot a ...there one is!" And it was all on again! Those humpbacks sure know how to make an entry!
I was out with the Spences one afternoon and turned to Rose to ask if she had spotted any whales and literally halfway through my sentence I had to stop and say "there's one!" and we all enjoyed some spoutings and splashings etc, which was the first time for me this year. Amazingly the next day when everyone was over for dinner the exact same sort of thing happened with me saying to the kids "I wonder if we can spot a ...there one is!" And it was all on again! Those humpbacks sure know how to make an entry!
Ningaloo was already great, but it got even better when Paul and Isaac went out fishing and met with success!!! He caught a 29cm yellowfin bream, which was comfortably in the range of a keeper. He enjoyed the whole process from catching to cooking, and we ate well for lunch that day. Fish and sweet potato and potato chips cooked in our caravan. This happy event was preceded by the catch and release of 3 tiddlers the night before (by Shannon and I) which made us all hungry for some larger successes!! Lilianna had also got one big one a day or so before we had arrived at Ningaloo, which had really started the fish fever!
Paul talking - Our last afternoon was a pretty magical. The wind had died right down to almost nothing so we headed to the drift loop side of Turquoise Bay. The snorkelling was easily the best we have experienced on our trip so far. There were masses of brightly coloured fish, large and small. I felt as if we were swimming in a tropical aquarium, and when everyone had had enough of the water, it was up to the beach to toast ourselves in the late afternoon sun. We met a lovely family who were up from Perth (Johanna and Mark and kids) for the school holidays, and spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and whiling away the time until a beautiful sunset finished off the already amazing day, perfectly.
As we chatted in the twilight, the water showed signs of action just beneath the surface. We watched a shovelnosed ray gliding up and down the beach, then we saw a few shark fins really close to the shore...the sharks were hunting fish right behind where we were standing to get a few shots of the sunset. Emma saw a whole school of fish jump out of the water to avoid being dinner, and she felt rather thankful that she hadn't become anyone's dinner during her last snorkel 10 minutes earlier!
As we chatted in the twilight, the water showed signs of action just beneath the surface. We watched a shovelnosed ray gliding up and down the beach, then we saw a few shark fins really close to the shore...the sharks were hunting fish right behind where we were standing to get a few shots of the sunset. Emma saw a whole school of fish jump out of the water to avoid being dinner, and she felt rather thankful that she hadn't become anyone's dinner during her last snorkel 10 minutes earlier!