Quad bikes, sharks and mantas

Now in Coral Bay, a one horse (and one street!) town just down the coast from Exmouth, with two caravan sites, four shops and a petrol station. Very few live here, most just come to work for the season it seems.
But the bay is lovely, very clear and calm water, and there is a great tourist trade on the boats, which we helped a lot for a change!

Yesterday we went out on a glass bottom boat to see the coral in detail, on this coast it is not as colourful as on the Great Barrier Reef, but the variety is staggering. something to do with the light levels I understand. From rock coral to staghorn and flora, we found out that coral is an animal related to jellyfish, and while some grow at around ten to fifteen centimetres a year, others grow very slowly at only one centimetre annually. Quite a lot of fish around- but more of that later.




That afternoon we took a quad bike trip, two hours of sheer terror over the dunes and beaches to the south of the bay, stimulating to say the least!
Travelling at over thirty five mph on extremely rough terrain, we had a job keeping up with the guide, particularly over the corrugations which rattled my false teeth out! We came down hills at almost one in two, along sloping beaches, round corners which almost threw us off. - quite exhilarating!






We witnessed a stunning sunset from the top of a cliff, a lovely end to a brilliant day.










A strong wind blew up during the night followed by cloud and spots of rain this morning, which rather put us off going on our next adventure this morning, a five hour snorkelling trip in the bay and beyond. However as it turned out the sun came out as we got on the boat, the clouds disappeared, even though the wind was still there.
I had a great day swimming with grey reef sharks, the less dangerous ones, and Manta rays.The sharks were about six feet long, at a cleaning station, where smaller fish clean them even venturing into their mouths to clean their teeth.

It took a while to find a Manta, there are not many of them here until early next year when they migrate through here, but when we did she was a magnificent specimen. Around eight feet from wing tip to wing tip, she glided gracefully through the water feeding on plankton and other small animals that came within her gaping mouth.






We followed her for quite a distance, she wasn't at all fazed by us, even when our guide swam under her to photograph her markings for ID purposes.
Small fish swam around her, cleaning her underside, that is the way they survive it seems, as with the sharks.

 I will finish with a few pics of some of the fish we have seen today on the coral, there is a myriad of varieties and colours here, all shapes and sizes.

This last is not a fish, it is me trying hard to imitate one, not very successfully!