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May 18 - 26, 2002
It was very strange to us to drive north to follow the sun - it seemed to be against all of our logic. One other thing that seems to defy all of our logic is that we are tenting in Australia - home to 9 out of 10 of the worlds deadliest species - snakes, spiders, crocs !!!
We knew tenting was the best option but the thought of pulling off to the side of the road popping up a tent for the night was unsettling. But the further we drove on the first day the more comfortable we became with the idea. Strangley enough millions of kangaroos, cattle, sheep and wallabies were enjoying the sun and fast asleep along the side of the road. And hey if they are alright with these sleeping arrangements how could it be bad for us?
We stopped for our first night in Carnarvon (check the map!) and figured out all of the things that we forgot to pack/bring for camping. We walked out on the jetty (long dock) at sunset and saw a huge school of mackeral (large fish) in a feeding frenzy of smaller bait fish. The bait fish were all swimming right out of the water! This got us pretty stoked for the fishing in the area.
| Sherry's friend the Sea Turtle |
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| Underwater at Coral Bay |
We drove 900km our first day, missing all recommended Parks and view points. We knew that in the Exmouth(Coral Bay) area we would experience the best snorkeling and fish wildlife ever, there was no delaying us. We planned 5 days in the area and stayed a week, even then it was hard for us to leave.
Coral Bay - is a one caravan park town, LOL. There is one road in, on one side is where you sleep and eat the other is the beach. The water is 22-25degC it is like swimming in an aquarium. You walk down the beach 300m, swim out about 300m and let the current float you around and over the coral.
The first thing you see are schools of fish coming to your feet as you wade in. The fish are every where, and too many kinds to mention. You have the small tropical colour fish up to schools of game fish(3' long). There were plenty of sea turtles and sting rays just to get your heart pumping again.
The coral is baffling. There are many different kinds, shapes some hard-some soft. And the colours, some lit up like christmas lights, some just solid, there were bright vibrant colours and some deep tones. Mix in the colours of the tropical fish and well we couldn't take a picture that would do it justice, Sorry!! You float around and point the camera at everything saying "Oh Yah, that is the best thing I have ever seen" but we did not have a million disposible cameras.
| Sean is hiding behind the coral |
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| Underwater at Coral Bay |
| Underwater photo of coral. |
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| Coral Bay |
| Turquoise Bay |
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| Trying to reel in the Big One !! |
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We spent a couple of days snorkeling and inspecting the catches the chartered fishing boats brought in daily. We agreed that we wanted to fish for "game fish" as well as bottom "reef fish" and chose our tour according to the number of game fish brought in. We shared a line and it was plenty of fishing for us both.
On the way out we trolled for game fish, seven people each drew cards to ensure thier order of catching fish. Sherry was lucky enough to get third. The first fish caught was a huge Baracuda, monster teeth. This got all of us very excited. The second line to go was a very big Spanish Mackeral, the line was winding out of the reel at mauch speed. He fought for a couple of minutues and before we could bring in the other lines the third line was off and running.
Sherry was not in the harness chair or belted up for the fight, so it was decided that she would leave the rod in its harness. Good thing too, she didn't have a life jacket on and that fish was certain to pull her in.
The reels we were using were $1000 Penn Internationals and the crew went to great length to make sure the rod and reels were harnessed to the ship. Sherry how ever??? Shark bait if she did not hold on to the rod!
In the excitment of two lines down and Sherry not wearing her belt the crew hand was frantically trying to service and land both fish. Upon noticing sherry not ready he quickly disappeared inside and reappeared quickly fastening her harness. Sherry's line was only out a short distance and was landed first. Sherry had just landed a 30lb Spanish Mackeral(4ft long). It wasn't till the fish was landed that we all noticed that her harness was upside down and would never have helped! Unfortunately for the second guy and the rest of us only the two ladies on board caught and landed any game fish :((
| Red Emperor, Trevally |
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| and the BIG Spanish Mackeral. |
The remainder of the day was spent anchored over the reef bottom bouncing for what ever might be hungry! We were jigging in no less than 200ft of water. Our line comprised of two hooks (gobs of bait - fish & squid) and a sinker (4lbs). You set the hook and pull the fish part way in by hand, once it is secured you reel it up with a winch. It is verry important that you use the winch not your hands, as the sharks below are fierce! Once you separate the fish from the rest the sharks sense the quickened heartbeat and are ready to attack the weaked prey.
If you didn't reel the fish in fast enough the sharks would tear it from the line. As you brought the fish up it would be circling in attempts to rid its self of the hook and to make sure the circling shark didn't eat it.
We were more than sucessfull on our outing, after the crew filleted and bagged the fish for us we had up to 30lbs of fish fillets! We caught Mackeral(dah), Red Emporer(cost $25/kg in the market), Spengled Emporer, Travelly, Jew fish, Snapper and a Sucker fish about 4ft long (one of those fish that has its sucker on the top of its head so it can ride along on the bottom of sharks and manta rays).
We obviously had way too much fish for us so we invited 12 people over to our nieghbours trailor for an amazing smogasbord of many different fish. I must say we threw another great party at someone elses place. To get rid of the rest of the fish we wandered through the park and offered it to whom ever thought they would cook it up for supper. Fish Fry for the neighbourhood!! (You would think Uncle Gary was around)
Even though leaving Coral Bay was difficult we new we had to be in Exmouth for our "Swim/Snorkel with the Whale Sharks" on Friday. Now with a couple of days of camping under our belt we were confident enough to venture into the national park (ie. no ademnities, porta potty - that's it). And we don't have any cooking equipment so it was PB&J for dinner. You pay a fee to enter the park and can go anywhere(as posted). We snorkeled on our way into the park at Tourquoise Bay, and headed to Yardie Creek for a sunset bushwalk/hike in the gorge and to set up camp for the night. This is the last stop on the entire road. The stars were undescribeable, especially the milky way it is so distinct here. Huge Sky !!!! It is hindsight now but the peace and quiet at this stop would be the most tranquil we would find along the entire rest of the upcoming trip.
Then it started raining - apparently it had not rained in this area for about 3 years the last being a Cyclone - what??? Anyways, we might have called it a day but Sean learned that if you snorkel in Tourquoise Bay and remained very calm and quiet (no kicking to miss the Jellies) you have a good chance of seeing some reef sharks!!!
He was out there for two hours floating in the pouring rain. Then off in the distance there was a flash of darkness - a big shadow- in the water! Pissed that the camera wasn't ready he kept scanning the horizions hoping that they would circle closer, only to float over some shallow reef right on top of a 6ft "White Tip Shark"!!! The shark was no more than 8' below Sean lying out of the current along the bottom sand bed! Snap - wind - Snap as fast as the disposible camera could go. The winding and waiting paid off because as the first shark swam off another "Black Tip" shark darted over the reef edge straight at Sean and turned just before his mask as it and a third shark (black tip) swan off out of site into the mirky water!
| This is what I saw first off |
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| This is just after he was coming straight at me |
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The sharks swam in the same direction as the current takes the snorkelers and every once in a while you would come over the reef edge and there 6-8ft below you was a shark lying on the sand bottom.The sharks seemed to be checking Sean out as much as he was freaking over them.
After snorkeling we noticed that it was still pouring rain and we realized that maybe we are not such great campers because we booked into the lodge as fast as that. It was wonderful to get dry, watch TV and reflect on the sharks. We really DID NOT expect to snorkel with sharks never mind that many and so close. |
