Coral Bay……..and a shark nursery on the south Ningaloo Reef, WA (13th to 15th October, 2011)

We left Exmouth and headed further south to Coral Bay (at the southern end of Ningaloo Reef) which we had been told is another beautiful spot with more reef to explore, white sand and shallow crystal clear water. Another long drive along a very windswept road but it was worth it. The bay was lovely and great for kids as the beach was flat and the water shallow for 30-40 metres out. Unfortunately, we had caught the tail end of the WA school holidays so the campsite was bursting at the seams but the beach was so long there was room for everyone and more!
The reef was further out and in much deeper water with less fish to see but the coral formation was like giant cabbages…..and luckily no sharks! We did walk along the full length of the bay round to the headland and came across a shark nursery in a shallow inlet! There must have been at least 20 juvenile Tiger Sharks ranging in size from 1 metre to over 2.5 metres just swimming in the shallows. We did’nt like to venture in case their mums were about….but it was amazing to see such creatures just a few metres from the beach. We also saw blue spotted stingrays in the shallows as well, and were told that someone had stood on one the previous day and had got badly stung by its tail…….well you would be pretty annoyed if someone stood on you! We did’nt fancy getting too close in case it was still annoyed!