I’ve spent the last two weeks snorkeling along the Ningaloo reef and soaking up the sun. The first few days upon arriving in Coral Bay, I thought to myself what the HELL am I going to do in this small town for two weeks? Since then, I’ve gotten in the groove and have learned how to slow down a little bit. While I don’t do too much throughout the day, there is still structure. Wake up, breakfast, put on sunscreen, go snorkel. Lay at the beach. Snorkel again. Lunch, shower, review GoPro videos, maybe draw or read, watch the sunset, have dinner, go for a walk and look at the stars. I really do need some kind of routine, even when on a “vacation”. There have been a few really fun things this week, though, starting with the Manta Ray tour.

Manta Ray Tour

Coral Bay is popular for a few things – the gorgeous Ningaloo reef, whale sharks, manta rays, and humpbacks, depending on the season. It’s still quite early for whale shark and humpback season unfortunately, so I opted to do a manta ray tour instead. I may return in July because that’s a good time to see all three.

The tour was SO cool, but I’ll add the disclaimer right now that there were no manta ray sightings. Bummer. Maru was telling me that they are easier to find around the full moon for some reason – that maybe that’s when they come closer to shore.

We boarded the boat and took off to a spot where we would do our first snorkel of the day. At this spot, I saw some starfish, loads of fish, and a few turtles as well which was a nice treat. OH – and a HUMUHUMUNUKUNUKUAPUA’A. The Hawaiian triggerfish is truly special to me because they are… well… Hawaiian triggerfish, and Hawaii is where I first fell in love with snorkeling.

After our snorkel, we went off in search of manta rays. About an hour into the tour, they sent up a “spotter plane,” which circles over the water in search of the rays or other large creatures. Unfortunately, the day of our tour was the first overcast day we’d had since I arrived in Coral Bay, making it hard to view large shadows of the mantas in the water both by boat and plane.

We were then off to our next destination… which was to view a tiger shark. I had heard this would be a possibility, but the idea of getting in the water with a deadly marine predator seemed like an incredibly dumb idea. And yet, there wasn’t much time to think. “We’ve spotted a tiger shark, so suit up if you want to swim with it. I’m going to suss it out first and when the skipper sounds the horn, get in the water as fast as you can and swim left,” one of the deckies told us. There wasn’t really time to think. I zipped up my wetsuit, got my snorkel goggles ready and fins on, and before I knew it, the boat horn went off and I slid off the stern of the boat into the ocean… in search of a tiger shark.

The first glimpse was just the tail as it swam away. Our group was able to get in a couple of more times, and the last time was by far the most incredible view. The lighting in the water was a little murky looking due to overcast skies which was a bummer. That said, when you’re in the water with one of these guys it’s apparent that they are magnificent, misunderstood beasts. Absolutely incredible.

After our tiger shark extravaganza (which was… whoa), we spotted two massive stingrays. “I don’t think we’re going to find any mantas today, so this is the next best thing!” Off we went into the water again, observing the largest stingrays I’ve ever seen, and swimming with them for quite some time, too. Stingrays are so cool! I’ve been so lucky to observe stingrays a number of times (Busselton Jetty, Hamelin Bay, Bicton Baths, Rottnest) and they’re really quite incredible.

The final leg of the tour (and this was a 7 hour tour, people! Complete with morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea) was another snorkel… to observe a reef shark cleaning station.

WOW.

The tiger shark was one thing, but this was something else. The reef sharks frequent this one particular area to get cleaned by smaller fish. I wasn’t sure how many there would be, but there were heaps! And none of them seemed to pay any mind to us.

While the manta ray tour lacked manta rays, I tried to view it as a shark tour instead. It was quite educational for me. As I know sharks aren’t killing machines, I always fear the idea of them while snorkeling. Seeing them (relatively) up close and personal was really important to me. They did not look at me and charge in an attempt to tear off my limbs. In fact, they didn’t seem fazed by me in the slightest. Even though I still have the fear, I think it was one step in the right direction. Although, I still think swimming with a tiger shark without a tour group would… not be good hahaha.

Despite its lack of manta rays, the tour was great fun!

Five Fingers Reef

One popular snorkeling spot around here where the coral isn’t dead is called Five Fingers Reef. It’s a quick drive, but about an hour walk. Since I don’t have a car, I opted to walk there one morning.

The reef is named Five Fingers because there are five main reef formations that jut out into the water. Their placement in the water looks like four fingers and a thumb. It was really cool to snorkel around the area because I saw what I think was a squid! I know I mentioned seeing one last week but this time was in the water.

I also saw some HUGE starfish – the largest I’ve ever seen before. And a blue one, at that!

There were also plenty of sea cucumbers which I don’t think I’d ever seen (or noticed) before.

Five Fingers was a great time, with healthy coral, but the greatest experience of them all for me happened right in the main bay.

Observing the Octopus

Alright. This has been one of the most special snorkeling experiences I’ve ever had – more than a tiger shark or a stingray or anything thus far.

One day, a little over a week ago… I found an octopus’ lair by accident. I was snorkeling along and then suddenly I see this thing in front of me, and then it’s sort of melting into a hole in the coral and – wait… an octopus?!

That first day, she was very shy. When I was near, she would hide in the crevice but if I swam a far enough distance away, she would pop her eyes out a little bit.

I made note of the location – it wasn’t far from the beach, and was halfway between two boat moorings in the water (bouys). I decided to fulfill my My Octopus Teacher fantasy and visit her as much as I could. It hasn’t been daily (Manta tour and Five Fingers reef being exceptions), but it has been often.

Each time, I seem to experience something new. Another day, I brought Maru with me. We watched for a while and Maru asked me eventually if I wanted to go check out Ayers Rock. I said “let’s just wait a little bit longer,” and I’m glad we did. The octopus actually left her cave and started slowly walking over the coral to another spot. Then, suddenly, BOOM! With no warning, she torpedoed back to her original cave. Maru and I were ecstatic at having witnessed it.

The most excellent moment happened afterwards, though. I wish I’d had Maru with me to witness this one, too. It was truly magnificent.

When I got to Lady Octopus’ spot… I saw that there was not one, but two octopi there. WHAT?! From there, chaos ensued. She wrapped her tentacle around the males’ neck and he tried to pull away from her. The more he pulled away, the more she seemed to tighten her grip until – SNAP – her tentacle released and he was free. He retreated to another spot.

And then, ANOTHER octopus appeared??? At this point, I am gobsmacked, having seen three octopus in a matter of minutes – all interacting with one another. They were swimming around, fighting one another… but the best moment was yet to come.

A male octopus appeared and walked across coral, spreading out his tentacles and looking absolutely massive. He then torpedoed closer to the coral that Lady Octopus was previously inhabiting. He landed on a nearby piece of coral and started feeling around with his tentacles. Out of nowhere, another set of tentacles appears and a second octopus starts turning white. He turns white as well and then he starts wrapping his tentacles over her, engulfing her. And then she’s engulfing him. They’re both changing color and twirling around…. it was literally insane and PLEASE watch this video because it will show you, whereas I am probably not even making sense here. I could not believe I was lucky enough to witness something like this.

I said goodbye to Lady Octopus on my penultimate snorkel, knowing it was perhaps my last time seeing her. As I said goodbye and thank you (through my snorkel mask), half of her body turned red, while the other was white. She didn’t know what I was saying, but maybe she was acknowledging me somehow. Maybe not. Maybe it was a warning that I was getting too close hahaha.

With all that said – visiting this Octopus’ Garden has been one of my absolute favorite moments in snorkeling, and a favorite moment in life as well. I am so grateful I was able to stumble upon her garden and that on the subsequent visits, was able to see so much octopi behavior. I will not soon forget my Lady Octopus.

Art of the Week

For Maru – as she was able to witness such octopus joy with me!

Reflections

Backtracking to the insane octopus moment again… I wish that someone had been with me to witness it, but no one was. Luckily, I was able to take video but it just isn’t the same thing. A pair of snorkelers swam by at one point and I said “there’s two octopus over here!” They swam over, took a quick look, said thanks, and swam off. I was like – how are they gonna swim away after two seconds?!

Perhaps I was meant to observe it alone, because here in Coral Bay it has certainly been a journey of solitude for me. Even though I’ve made some acquaintances, I have spent a lot of time just… BEING… with myself, here. It has felt different somehow to being alone in Perth, or in Chicago. Not bad. Just an observation, really. I suppose in a way, I wish that I had somebody to share all these moments with. Now that I’m going to be more “on the go,” I realize a lot of the connections I make will be rather fleeting. Such is life, I suppose!

I titled this blog post “Ningaloo Reef: Follow the Fish,” but haven’t mentioned what “follow the fish” means until now. It has somehow become my mantra when snorkeling here in Australia. When snorkeling, you could go anywhere, in any direction. I try to always “follow the fish” – they take me where I need to go. Maybe I wouldn’t have found the octopus had I not followed the fish in the first place.

Have you ever heard of a thorny devil? You have to look it up now. They are these incredible, stealthy reptiles that I would LOVE to see. And yet, I haven’t seen them here in Western Australia. On some days, I’ve been going out into the bush after my snorkel sessions in search of them. I’ll bring my headphones and walk along, listening to my music. Once I get to a certain point away from town, I start to sing my little heart out and even throw in the occasional dance move. It’s been quite lovely – but no thorny devils yet.

During one of my last snorkels at Coral Bay, I was swimming back to shore when out of nowhere (as it usually is “out of nowhere” when snorkeling), a sea turtle appeared! I was really pleased to see this guy. When on the Manta tours, they know of a “turtle cleaning” spot where they take you, so it’s almost guaranteed to see them. But seeing them in the bay itself is quite rare now that the coral is dead. It felt like a quiet “goodbye” from the Ningaloo Reef. I have loved turtles since I first saw them in Hawaii. They are little sea angels. Honu.

One thing I’ve noticed about being in Coral Bay is that it takes a while for the locals to ask you about yourself. People come and go so quickly here. A lot of the people I’ve met at the hostels were only in town for one or two nights. It wasn’t until maybe a week where locals started to ask me “so are you vacationing or living here now?” I think they must have to put up a guard – with so many people coming and going, they don’t want to get to know someone who is only leaving after three days. Makes sense.

I went to say goodbye to the sharks at the shark sanctuary, but it was rather choppy out and I wasn’t able to spot any. On my final day in Coral Bay, I went for one last quick snorkel and after drying off at the beach, some people started exclaiming that a shark was very close to shore. I walked over to see it and said my goodbyes then instead.

While waiting for my bus out of Coral Bay, Brittney happened to pass by where I was waiting. She said she’ll stay in town until at least June, maybe even August. I’m glad we bumped into each other. We shared a hug and wished each other well. In a lot of ways, things seemed to come full circle as I was leaving Coral Bay.

I have also taken to photographing the sunsets every day since being in Coral Bay – so here they are. The final day was my favorite. A magnificent sunset!

What’s next? Well, I’ve taken the bus back down to Perth. I’ll only be in town for a few days. On April 1st, I fly over to Hobart, Tasmania. The weather will be much colder there and it will likely be a while before I snorkel again. It’ll be an interesting departure from all the snorkeling I’ve been doing over the past six months. Hopefully in Hobart there will be wombats, echidnas, and the southern lights to look forward to. I honestly don’t know much about Tasmania, but I hear that I’m in for a treat. Fingers crossed!

Sending you all my love! xxxx