I have been planning to stay in Coral Bay for months now – knowing that Ningaloo Reef has been compared to the Great Barrier Reef, oftentimes being told that it is in fact better than the GBR. I was hoping to get a ride from a friend, but unfortunately it fell through and I had to scramble to figure out how to get up there. Luckily for me… there was a 16hr coach available.

Integrity Coachlines

While I could have flown, flights were much more pricier than the bus, so I opted to go that route. I was dreading the long, long bus ride but it wasn’t as awful as I initially anticipated.

Upon arriving at the bus, I checked in with one of the drivers and then waited for a while, wanting to make sure they loaded my backpack into the bus. A girl was waiting as well, and at a certain point she turned and asked me if I was waiting to make sure my bag got loaded, too. She was from New York – one of the first interactions with a fellow American I’ve had in quite some time.

The bus departed at 7pm and arrived at Coral Bay at 10.30am the next morning. Along the way, we had several 30min rest stops – each of which, Brittney and I would chat a little bit more. It was nice to have a companion of sorts to get through the bus ride. There were a number of loud snorers on the bus. Why so many people snore, I’ll never know. I was worried it was a bad omen for what’s to come with me staying at hostels again – as I haven’t stayed at a hostel since my first month in Perth. (Luckily for me, there had been no one else in my 10-bed dorm the first few nights of me staying in Coral Bay, so I haven’t yet had to deal with snoring.)

At the 4am rest stop, I exited the bus and… WOW. I could see the Milky Way. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen it quite so vibrantly before. I’ve had some amazing stargazing opportunities in Colorado and Iceland, but I’m not sure anything has ever compared to this.

And then finally, FINALLY I was in Coral Bay. Brittney and I parted ways. I was regretting not asking to exchange social media or phone numbers, but she had simply said upon our farewell “I’m sure I’ll see you around.” Since then, I have bumped into her a few times and we have exchanged info.

By 10.30am, I was READY to check into my hostel. Unfortunately for me, I had to wait until 1pm to check in. Luckily, one of the employees (now a friend – Maru, I’ll mention her later), let me chill out in the lounge area until 1pm.

A large fear that struck me almost immediately was the cell coverage situation. As soon as I got to Coral Bay and saw my phone said SOS, I panicked. I started thinking “how will I tell my parents and friends I’m okay, how will I book a return bus ticket?” Coral Bay is a town of 200 people (allegedly around 80 outside of peak season), I was feeling very ill-equipped. Thankfully, there is wifi available. The hostel has wifi from 9am-3pm, and there’s a cafe nearby that has wifi in the evening. With that situated, I eased up a little.

I struck up a conversation with the receptionist, who was answering some of my questions about snorkeling and a nearby shark santuary.

Shark Sanctuary

After unpacking some of my things in my hostel room, I decided I was too exhausted to snorkel and would opt instead for the shark sanctuary. There are two walking options – one is to walk along sand dunes, the other is to walk at the edge of the water, sometimes having to walk over rocky terrain and sharp limestone camouflaged amongst the sand. I opted for the sand dune option, but boy, did it feel like a HIKE. I did strike up a nice conversation with an older couple from Washington state, though. What, suddenly I’m surrounded by Americans now that I’ve left Perth???

Finally, I made it to the shark sanctuary. After a little while, I was able to spot a couple of shadows in the water. I think there were two or three that first day.

I’ve since returned a few times, deciding to do a near-daily pilgrimage to visit them.

My favorite day was yesterday – where a reef shark was swimming right along the edge of the beach. I was so thrilled to observe this beautiful creature from such a close distance. And then, a baby shark swam right by it, too!

The whole concept of the shark sanctuary is that it’s a shark nursery, where sharks come to give birth to their pups. At peak season, there are dozens, if not hundreds of sharks there. The other day, I counted 16 – all swirling around one another. It was such a cool sight!

Bioluminescent Plankton

Since the stars are so visible here in Coral Bay, I like to go out and look at them, occasionally spotting a shooting star. One night, as I was leaving the hostel, Maru (the employee I mentioned earlier) asked what I was getting up to. I told her I was going stargazing and she suggested I go down to Paradise Beach to check out the bioluminescent plankton. BIOLUMINESCENT PLANKTON? I had not heard of this being at Coral Bay at all. I walked down to the beach. As I got further away from the town, it got much darker. It was kind of a spooky walk, actually. I got to the water and waited, but wasn’t seeing anything. After a few minutes, though, I started to see little bright lights in the water, occasionally zipping from point A to B to C. One night I was looking at stars in the sky, the next in the ocean.

I thanked Maru the next day for the recommendation, and she suggested I go to the boat ramp, which is even better since it’s much darker over there. I then talked with my friend Reid about it and he said he’d heard about them, too. We made plans to go check it out in the evening. He drove us there since the boat ramp is a bit of a hike (I actually walked it one day, looking for a popular snorkeling spot) and yes – it was much better at the boat ramp. By kicking your legs around the water, you see all kinds of plankton lighting up through the waves. I have never seen anything like this, save for the dugite “glow worms” in Alabama.

Reid and I also saw some eagle rays and squids along the jetty, both of which I had never seen before. (I previously thought I’d seen an eagle ray at Busselton Jetty, but I think that was another type of stingray. There are so many kinds!)

Ningaloo Reef

The big perk of the Ningaloo Reef is that it is the world’s largest fringing reef. You don’t have to swim out very far to be immersed by coral. I have been really excited to get here and to check this out. As you all know by this point, I love snorkeling and hanging with all the fishies. Since being here, I’ve seen so many different fish that I’ve never seen before – and for the ones I have, they are plentiful.

My favorite so far has been the blue-spotted stingrays, the vibrant blue fish, and any of the yellow guys. Sorry – I don’t know all the names of the sea creatures yet but I learn a little bit more each time.

On my first day snorkeling, I was bummed to see that most people were only snorkeling at the very edge of the reef. I wanted to go in further, but since nobody else was, I didn’t have the courage. I still saw plenty of cool fish!

The next day, I went out snorkeling with Reid – the hostel receptionist who checked me in. He took me quite far out (in my eyes, at the time) to see Ayers Rock, which is this HUGE piece of living coral that is estimated to be over 1,000 years old. Much of the coral here died off last year due to a natural event. While it’s still beautiful, it isn’t very colorful. Not all coral is colorful, though, even if it’s alive. Ayer’s Rock was so cool!

Yesterday, I went out on my own, feeling a little braver and ventured out along a similar path that Reid had taken me to. Again, saw plenty of cool fish.

I think the best so far was today. I had snorkeled a couple times in the morning, just exploring around the main bay area. After coming back to the hostel and showering, I bumped into Maru, who asked if I wanted to join her for a snorkel. While I was planning on having a chill afternoon, I said to myself – yo, I’m here to snorkel, and I feel if I declined I might not get another opportunity to snorkel with Maru. So I popped my contacts back in and off we went.

We walked down to Paradise Beach and then ventured out. She took me SO far out. I was a little afraid, but I followed her, trusting her completely. And I’m so glad I did. She took me out to a spot where the coral was still alive and WOW, what a difference. So many fish, the water was SO CLEAR (best visibility EVER) and the coral was gorgeous! Some of them were blue and purple. Very, very cool to see.

I still have more than a week here, so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of other snorkel adventures to share in the next post.

Art of the Week

My friend Matt commissioned me to make another drawing for his band. I’m really quite happy with how it turned out! It’s unlike anything I’ve really done before – I haven’t done a “collage” of sorts, but it worked out. I found that at times, it was hard to focus on everything being one cohesive piece. Overall, I think it turned out quite nice.

Reflections

I have to admit that upon arrival in Coral Bay, I was VERY underwhelmed, and feeling unstimulated. To go from a city (Perth) to a town of 200, with not much to do other than be at the beach, snorkel, or check out the sharks, (or go on some tours, which is $$$) I was asking myself what the hell I was going to do to keep busy over the next two weeks. And I think that’s a lesson I need to learn – to slow down, to enjoy the simple life. Sleep in, eat food, soak in the sun, snorkel. It is paradise, and yet I was feeling trapped. I think the involuntary digital detox was a contributing factor to that, too. I know it sounds silly, but it felt odd to have to disconnect from my phone during certain hours of the day. A GOOD THING, to be sure.

I also met someone from the hostel who was only in town for two nights. We went to the shark sanctuary and had a really nice talk – Ella is her name. She is moving from Perth to Melbourne soon and since Melbourne is in my future, we made tentative plans to reconnect once I’m out there!

Also… saw some cute little fish literally LEAPING out of the water! I’ve seen it a few times now. One time was a bunch of little fish, the other times it was one large fish doing it. Breaching – like the whales.

I’ve also unfortunately had a bout of bad luck lately. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe the universe is saying “BE PRESENT, damn it!!!” My left contact had really been irritating my eye the first couple of times I went snorkeling. I would have liked to snorkel more each day, but because of the irritation I had to take out my contacts. I decided the contact must be whack, so I opened up a new container and yesterday was much better UNTIL… today, my eye started burning immediately after putting a contact in. After a quick suss, I realized that when I refilled my travel bottle with the solution… the solution had been in a bottle that was previously used for menthol vape juice (even though I had cleaned the bottle out). Thus, opening ANOTHER contact case. I thoroughly cleaned out the contact case and just put the fresh contact (and the solution it comes with in the packaging) there. Unfortunately, the case seems to be “stained” with that menthol-ness, now. When I put the contact in this afternoon, it definitely started to irritate my eye but it subsided after a minute or two. My eye isn’t red or anything, either, so should be good hopefully. Once I’m back in Perth, I’ll have to get a new contact case.

The other thing that was very annoying is that I lost hearing in my right ear the other day LOL. Taking me way back to the Christmas snorkel debacle. Unlike that time, where my hearing was muffled for almost two weeks, this time I was able to unclog my ear and I’m hearing again as of today. So 24 hours of slight muffled-ness isn’t that bad.

I also recently had my identity stolen, which was frustrating to deal with overseas. So after months and months and maybe even years of not having any bad luck at all – it seems that life is throwing some curveballs at me right now. I suppose that’s part of the fun, hey. Learning how to roll with the punches and not let everything rile me up.

So – what’s next? Well, Coral Bay for another eight days, baby! It seems like every day, I unlock some sort of new puzzle piece about this interesting town – different snorkeling spots, or random things like bioluminescent plankton. So we’ll see what happens in the next week!