Day 89 20/6/2011 Coral Bay

Day 89 20/6/2011 Coral Bay

Today was again one of those days when you have plan A but quickly have to switch to plan B, plan B wasn’t so bad!! Initially we had planned to take a picnic and go over to Five Fingers Reef for a day of snorkelling but when we woke up it was windy and rather cold so without too much encouragement the children went off to play with their friends. 



Check out teh locust swarm across the top of the
sand dunes (Zac fishing), the dark patch



Pete and I checked out the bakery, found the local nurse and read that the doctor was in town tomorrow – medical services and their availability have now become important to us!! We decided that I would take Claudia to see the nurse just to get a second opinion and to check the dressing.  So after locating Claudia I headed back to the nurse.  Whilst waiting for the nurse Claudia and I watched a cloud of locusts descend upon Coral Bay.  I have never ever seen such a large swarm of locusts, hundreds of thousands swarming upon the one place, the air and trees were thick with them and they were huge. The locusts gave us something to watch as we waited 1 ½ hours for our turn to see the nurse, we returned to the caravan with the toe re dressed and Claudia given clear to return to the water tomorrow!! So this is where plan B kicked in because it was now lunchtime and we had one child who was banned from the water today. I have to admit during lunch we took shelter underneath the caravan awning and watched the locust swarm!!



Fish!!



Heading down to Maud Bay for a snorkel after lunch we were careful to stick to the road and footpaths as any deviation onto the grass set off another swarm of locusts, they were still around and thick in the air.  In the distance we could see what initially looked like a sand storm over the sand dunes but what was actually the locust plague!!  It was truly unbelievable.

Our snorkel was great we saw a huge array of fish – big and small – brightly coloured, silver and brown, I can’t remember the names of all the fish we saw but it was great fun trying to get up close to them to take their photograph!! I did remember the camera today but my the fish are mighty fast, excellent swimmers I would say, by the time I spotted one, dived down, tried to focus the camera whilst staying submerged and/or chasing the fish inevitably the fish was …..gone!! I managed to get a couple of good shots and lots with tails only!! In my defence also the visibility today was quite poor, at best we had visibility of 5m.



More pretty fish



Zac got his opportunity to throw a line in but the fish were not at all interested in his lures…… Poor Zac it is even worse because he has snorkelled where he was fishing and he knows that there are fish around!! Maybe he will have better luck tomorrow.

Today I was so grateful that we had purchased spring suits before we left home as we all put them on before the snorkel and it was much warmer. Callum even spent over an hour playing in the sand in his!!  The water is pleasant for a dip but when we are just hanging around snorkelling I get a little bit chilled!!

Spot the wave breaking right out the back.  This is where we
snorkelled today!!

The other phenomenon that we saw today from the bay was a huge swell breaking over the outer Ningaloo Reef, the outer reef is about 1km from the shore but we could easily see the waves crashing over and after chatting to a few other people we learnt that there was a 4m swell along the coast.  I am therefore very grateful to the outer reef for protecting us from such a huge swell.

Maybe tomorrow plan A will eventuate?