Hi All,
I just wanted to post a new trip report. My family and I (Wife and daughters 7&8yrs) spent June 21st to June 27 along the Western Australia coast. We flew from Singapore to Perth (Visiting Family in Singapore) and then rented a car in Perth and drove along the west coast to Coral Bay. Being from Arizona the drive and surrounding landscape is similar to parts of the Western US, the road is 2 lane most of the way with passing lanes every so often. Average speed limit is 110kph but there are a lot of small communities requiring slow to 60. Driving time with 2 young girls was about 11hrs (stop for food and gas only). We stayed at Ningaloo Reef Resort Monday and Tuesday which is right on the beach. This is not your typical beach resort so if you are looking for a (Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton or Westin) you are out of luck. Most of the travelers her stay at the backpackers/RV campground since the coast is undeveloped due to the protected reef status (this is a good thing which keeps the riff/raff out). Eco-tourism is a top priority here which is why the water is crystal clear and the reef is healthy. This is a fringe reef, literally no more than 10ft offshore at low tide. Since this is Australia's winter the days are shorter and the nights drop into the 40's and daytime highs are around 78-85. The beach is long and very uncrowded, sand is soft and fine. You don't need any dive gear just Fins, Mask and Snorkel. My wife and I did bring our gear since we booked a reef dive with Ningaloo Reef Dive and Snorkel for one day (Manta Ray snorkel with 2 tank Dive). The boat was well maintained however there was a limited supply of fresh water buckets for camera gear. We were able to snorkel with 4 mantas and dove with turtles and too many coral and fish to mention. This reef is in much better shape than the west coast GBR. I dove the GBR in 2001 and 2004. The crew was excellent, food was standard cold cuts, fruits, bread, tea, coffee and juice.
Highlights: Great diving, no guarantee for Manta sighting but we snorkeled with at least 4 different animals at one time so we got more than we expected. They also were very accommodating when we asked to move our dive day from Tuesday to Wednesday (Drive up the coast took a little longer than anticipated). The Water was very comfortable at about 78-82F and dove/snorkeled in comfort with 3mm full. We were out most of the day and only got back to the Dive shop at around 1630.
Lowlights: Rude passengers (from western Europe) who went through the food line twice piling their plates high even before my kids or wife had served themselves one plate of food. This occurred right after the Crew told everyone (Women and Children first and only take a human sized portion). Lack of larger fresh water bucket for cameras
We traveled from Coral Bay up the coast (3hrs) to Exmouth. The cold war history here is quite interesting and would recommend looking at history before your visit (you can Google it). We stayed at the Best Western Sea Breeze which is on the US run Naval Base at the North end of town. This is an ideal location for the Whale Shark tours because it is the last hotel pickup headed to the boat launch (gives a little more time in morning before bus comes) and the first on the way back after spending a day snorkeling in the Indian Ocean. The hotel is actually a refurbished barracks but don't prejudge; this motel is a diamond in the rough. There are Kangaroo's and Emus that hang around, if you are from the US there are 120VAC sockets in the bathroom since this was a US maintained military base. The rooms are large with bunk beds for kids and the bathroom is ideal for rinsing dive gear. It has a little kitchenette with refrigerator and stove, dishes and utensils. The restaurant food here is very expensive (One night Dinner at Cadillac bar and grill $100) so I recommend grocery shopping and cooking up your own food. We booked a Whale Shark Snorkel trip with 3 Islands Whale Shark tours. This was on my bucket list and it was worth every penny. We snorkeled with 4 different Whale Sharks, and at least 6 Mantas who were in the water feeding and in a holding pattern for what seemed like 30min right below our group. I would recommend bringing your own gear, (mask, fins and snorkel are very personal to me and the gear provided by the dive operator was very generic). It helps if you haven't done any snorkeling in a while to practice because you are in and out of the water at a pretty rapid clip. The boat was very comfortable and well maintained. Dry boxes for your cloths and other items to be stored. My daughters swim well but it was nice to have the noodles for them as a security blanket. The food was excellent and the crew is entertaining and cheerful. I shot over 80GB of video with my Sony Action Cam AS-100V and FDR-1000 in 4K. I haven't been able to upload any media yet but will as soon as I can.
:cool2:
No Complaints at all with 3 Islands! It was all Excellent, even the food.
I just wanted to post a new trip report. My family and I (Wife and daughters 7&8yrs) spent June 21st to June 27 along the Western Australia coast. We flew from Singapore to Perth (Visiting Family in Singapore) and then rented a car in Perth and drove along the west coast to Coral Bay. Being from Arizona the drive and surrounding landscape is similar to parts of the Western US, the road is 2 lane most of the way with passing lanes every so often. Average speed limit is 110kph but there are a lot of small communities requiring slow to 60. Driving time with 2 young girls was about 11hrs (stop for food and gas only). We stayed at Ningaloo Reef Resort Monday and Tuesday which is right on the beach. This is not your typical beach resort so if you are looking for a (Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton or Westin) you are out of luck. Most of the travelers her stay at the backpackers/RV campground since the coast is undeveloped due to the protected reef status (this is a good thing which keeps the riff/raff out). Eco-tourism is a top priority here which is why the water is crystal clear and the reef is healthy. This is a fringe reef, literally no more than 10ft offshore at low tide. Since this is Australia's winter the days are shorter and the nights drop into the 40's and daytime highs are around 78-85. The beach is long and very uncrowded, sand is soft and fine. You don't need any dive gear just Fins, Mask and Snorkel. My wife and I did bring our gear since we booked a reef dive with Ningaloo Reef Dive and Snorkel for one day (Manta Ray snorkel with 2 tank Dive). The boat was well maintained however there was a limited supply of fresh water buckets for camera gear. We were able to snorkel with 4 mantas and dove with turtles and too many coral and fish to mention. This reef is in much better shape than the west coast GBR. I dove the GBR in 2001 and 2004. The crew was excellent, food was standard cold cuts, fruits, bread, tea, coffee and juice.
Highlights: Great diving, no guarantee for Manta sighting but we snorkeled with at least 4 different animals at one time so we got more than we expected. They also were very accommodating when we asked to move our dive day from Tuesday to Wednesday (Drive up the coast took a little longer than anticipated). The Water was very comfortable at about 78-82F and dove/snorkeled in comfort with 3mm full. We were out most of the day and only got back to the Dive shop at around 1630.
Lowlights: Rude passengers (from western Europe) who went through the food line twice piling their plates high even before my kids or wife had served themselves one plate of food. This occurred right after the Crew told everyone (Women and Children first and only take a human sized portion). Lack of larger fresh water bucket for cameras
We traveled from Coral Bay up the coast (3hrs) to Exmouth. The cold war history here is quite interesting and would recommend looking at history before your visit (you can Google it). We stayed at the Best Western Sea Breeze which is on the US run Naval Base at the North end of town. This is an ideal location for the Whale Shark tours because it is the last hotel pickup headed to the boat launch (gives a little more time in morning before bus comes) and the first on the way back after spending a day snorkeling in the Indian Ocean. The hotel is actually a refurbished barracks but don't prejudge; this motel is a diamond in the rough. There are Kangaroo's and Emus that hang around, if you are from the US there are 120VAC sockets in the bathroom since this was a US maintained military base. The rooms are large with bunk beds for kids and the bathroom is ideal for rinsing dive gear. It has a little kitchenette with refrigerator and stove, dishes and utensils. The restaurant food here is very expensive (One night Dinner at Cadillac bar and grill $100) so I recommend grocery shopping and cooking up your own food. We booked a Whale Shark Snorkel trip with 3 Islands Whale Shark tours. This was on my bucket list and it was worth every penny. We snorkeled with 4 different Whale Sharks, and at least 6 Mantas who were in the water feeding and in a holding pattern for what seemed like 30min right below our group. I would recommend bringing your own gear, (mask, fins and snorkel are very personal to me and the gear provided by the dive operator was very generic). It helps if you haven't done any snorkeling in a while to practice because you are in and out of the water at a pretty rapid clip. The boat was very comfortable and well maintained. Dry boxes for your cloths and other items to be stored. My daughters swim well but it was nice to have the noodles for them as a security blanket. The food was excellent and the crew is entertaining and cheerful. I shot over 80GB of video with my Sony Action Cam AS-100V and FDR-1000 in 4K. I haven't been able to upload any media yet but will as soon as I can.
:cool2:
No Complaints at all with 3 Islands! It was all Excellent, even the food.
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