From Karijini we head back to the coast, to Coral Bay. It’s a six hour drive, and reasonably uninteresting, though I’m sure if we were going slower there’d be plenty to see along the way. We arrive in time to setup camp in the sandy ground and head to the visitors centre before it closes.
I was surprised when the visitor centre guy said we could just snorkel off the beach, I suppose I expected to need a boat to reach the reef.
Earlier in Broome, in preparation for this part of the trip, we bought snorkels and an underwater camera. I wasn’t sure how much we’d use them, but figured it would be worth it if we ended up needing them.
After the visitor centre we walked up a sand dune which overlooks the bay. Looking from there, the water in the bay is luminescent blue, dark patches with rippling waves indicating the reef below. Children are playing around the edge of the bay, where sunlight cuts through the water to the bright white sand.
We get dinner at a pub and an early night to give us plenty of water time tomorrow.
I tried to get a good seal on the snorkel with my holiday beard, but alas I cannot. And so off it comes, what a shame! (Turns out vasso would have helped here, but I didn’t think about it…)
Once we’re in the water we take a few moments to get used to the gear before heading deeper. About 10 meters from shore we encounter our first coral formations. The chirping of fish pecking at the coral grows louder.
As the current gently draws us north into the bay, I begin to feel a deep peace come over me. The reef is an otherworldly city full of activity and a kind of ordered chaos with intersecting layers of fish-highways.
The coral is in shapes new to me. There is coral like giant cabbage with overlapping green leaves, yellow coral like fronds of fungi, coral shaped like a cross between a brain and a golf ball (with round wrinkles, not long wrinkles), coral like outstretched tentacles with blue tips, there’s a field of purple coral like flowers on dead tree branches.
Tiny fish dart and hide deep in the coral as we drift over them, larger fish ignore us and continue on.
When we eventually exit the water an hour later I realise how cold I had become, but I hadn’t noticed while I was snorkelling. The hot sun rapidly brings heat back to my skin.
We repeat the loop three more times, walking back along the beach and snorkelling into the bay. Each time there are new things to explore, though each time the cold returns faster.
The combination of the scrambling, playful exploring of Karijini and the alien underwater peace of Coral Bay has really peaked my joyful holiday feeling.
