Ningaloo Reef (return), Aug 20 - Sept 2
Exmouth Aug 20 - 25 130nm, 28.5hrs
We say goodbye to Geoff in Exmouth and spend a few days exploring and reprovisioning. We dive the Navy Pier which is rated as one of the top 10 shore dives in the world. What an extraordinary dive! Not only is it choc full of sharks, moray eels, and gropers (including the BFG - Big Friendly Groper), but we had dolphins on site and whales breaching not far away. The BFG is known for sneaking up on divers and scaring the bejesus out of them, but he came straight towards me and stopped in front of my face, where I scratched under his chin and on top of his head before he sashayed off to scare some other diver. I stroked the length of his body as he left. At 1.8m he was bigger than some of the sharks!
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We say goodbye to Geoff in Exmouth and spend a few days exploring and reprovisioning. We dive the Navy Pier which is rated as one of the top 10 shore dives in the world. What an extraordinary dive! Not only is it choc full of sharks, moray eels, and gropers (including the BFG - Big Friendly Groper), but we had dolphins on site and whales breaching not far away. The BFG is known for sneaking up on divers and scaring the bejesus out of them, but he came straight towards me and stopped in front of my face, where I scratched under his chin and on top of his head before he sashayed off to scare some other diver. I stroked the length of his body as he left. At 1.8m he was bigger than some of the sharks!
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Tantabiddi, Aug 25 - 28 32nm, 5 hrs
With glassed off afternoons and clear and calm waters for hookah diving and SUPping, we reckon this is what holidays are made of!! Tantabiddi is only 30 minutes from Exmouth by car, but the 5 hour sail flew by as we watched whales breaching again and again. I climbed the mast to the 2nd spreader and counted 5 turtles in the half hour I was up there, plus 1 shark. I was looking for whale sharks, and when I came down Colin told me the season has already ended. Information I could have done with sooner!!
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Coral Bay (Mauds Landing), Aug 29 - Sept 2 70nm, 19hr sail
The conditions couldn’t have been in greater contrast from our previous visit. From a washing machine bay to, well, Coral Bay. We got in some fantastic snorkeling over the vast expanse of reef out near the channel markers, where we would paddle the SUPs and attach them to our ankles via leg ropes while we drifted over the reef. The coral is very close to the surface here. Layers and layers of plate corals punctuated with jewels of colour from parrotfish and other tropical reef fish. It was also a popular spot for turtles, and on our last snorkel I counted at least 15, with 6 visible at once at what must have been the ‘Turtle hot spot’!! We also saw reef sharks here and in the clear water between the reef and the boat.
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