The Ningaloo Coast

Our recent trip to the Ningaloo Coast was so memorable that I’ve jotted down the key points in case anyone is considering a visit and wants to know where we stayed and what we did. If that’s you, or you just want to hear more about our adventures while visiting this unique place, read on.

Overview

The heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef, renowned for mega-fauna such as whale sharks, manta rays and humpback whales, is in Western Australia about 1200 km north of Perth. At 260 km, it’s Australia’s largest fringe reef, and as it’s close to land, accessibility is easy.

The landscape inland is desert, with red dirt and low-lying shrubs. Roadsigns warned of dingoes and emus, but we didn’t spot any. For the most part, it’s flat, except in the Cape Range National Park, which offers spectacular views and several dramatic gorges. We didn’t allow enough time to even begin to do this justice.

The biggest town is Exmouth, where we spent five nights. It’s set on the Exmouth Gulf and has access to the beaches inside and outside the Gulf. We also stayed in Coral Bay for four nights.

Getting There

There’s an airport in Learmonth, 30 km south of Exmouth, which has regular flights from Perth. Coming from Melbourne, we flew to Perth, then on to Learmonth.

Getting Around

We hired a car from the airport and kept it for our trip. While there are airport transfers to hotels and the tours will do hotel pickups, many of the best beaches and snorkeling are a drive from Exmouth, so you’d miss out on a lot without one.

The ninety-minute drive south of Exmouth to Coral Bay traverses an arid landscape littered with termite mounds. Phone reception drops in and out as you pass by mobile phone towers.

NB: If your trip ends in Coral Bay, allow an extra 30 minutes to get to the airport, as there aren’t any petrol stations between Coral Bay and the airport, so you’ll have to drive back in and out of Exmouth to get fuel.

Weather

Our visit was in October, which offered a perfect temperature range of 17-33 C. It was very windy most days, particularly in the afternoons. We were advised to visit outside the Gulf in the morning and come inside where it’s more sheltered later in the day.

October is off-season for whale sharks and shoulder season for humpback whales, so we weren’t expecting to see them, but fortunately, these majestic creatures made appearances anyway. If you have your heart set on viewing a particular animal, do your research about the best time of year to maximize your opportunity.

The water was warm, but with the tours, you can be in the water for some time, so I’d definitely recommend a wetsuit. The tours offer them, so you don’t need to bring one, but if you prefer to use your own, definitely bring it along.

Exmouth

Exmouth is one of Australia’s youngest towns. It was formed to support Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt, a joint project between the Australian and United States Navies, which emits very low frequency (VLF) radio transmission to communicate with submarines and other navy vessels across the eastern Indian and western Pacific Oceans. The towers are taller than the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building.

Exmouth has since grown to become a tourist destination. The tour guides we spoke to raved about the strong sense of community there, as locals are bonded by a common love of the sea.

Exmouth Accommodation

We stayed at Mantarays Ningaloo Beach Resort – excellent rooms, friendly staff, a great restaurant, a lovely pool, and it’s right on the beach looking across the Exmouth Gulf. Andrew saw a whale breaching from our balcony.

There are plenty of other options available at various price points.

Exmouth Restaurants

There was no shortage of great places to eat:

• Mantarays Ningaloo Beach Resort restaurant was so good we went back for a second night.
• Whalebone Brewing Company served top-notch pizza accompanied by live music and great beer.
• Whalers Restaurant served delicious fish.
• Exhale Exmouth was the culinary highlight. They are open all day. We had tapas one night that was absolute perfection and returned on our last day to enjoy crepes and waffles for breakfast.

Exmouth Activities

We went snorkling off the beach at Turquoise Bay, Lakeside and Oyster Stacks, which are reputed to have the best coral. They lived up to their reputations. We also visited the Jurabi Turtle Centre and spotted a few turtles at Osprey Bay. I’ve detailed our other activities below.

Yardie Creek Tour

On this one-hour cruise along the Yardie Creek Gorge by Yardie Creek Boat Tours, the sole operator there, we were thrilled to see numerous rock wallabies, mangroves and beautiful birdlife. The tour guides had just taken over the business and did a fabulous job explaining the area’s history and sharing their knowledge of local wildlife.

Sunset Whale Watching

There were several tour operators available for the sunset cruise in Exmouth Gulf, and we went with Ocean Eco Adventures, who delivered a fabulous night. Our guide was outgoing, funny and knowledgeable and Captain Lucky was chatty and informative.

We were fortunate to see a mother teaching her calf to slap the water with her pectoral fin, a trick they use to communicate over long distances and to remove the barnacles from their fins and tail.

We also had a rainstorm during the cruise. For a town with an average annual rainfall of 230-260mm, this was a rare experience. Between the whales, the storm, the sunset and a rainbow, we didn’t know which way to look.

Whale Shark Tour

Swimming with a whale shark is one for the bucket list. There were several operators available, and we went with Ningaloo Discovery. Absolutely a 5-star operation. The crew was friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Their briefings on safety, process and information about the wildlife were first-rate. They provided snacks, lunch and tea/coffee, plus a glass of champagne as a reward at the end. Nicole and Evan, who led our snorkeling adventures, were outstanding.

To find a whale shark, the boat captain communicated with the pilot of their spotter plane, who could see clearly from the air and guided the captain to the right place.

Whale sharks tend to swim in a straight line, so the tour guides dropped us in the water ahead of the whale shark so we could watch it swim by then try to keep up with it. The marine park limits the number of people who can be with an animal at any time to ten, so the tour group of 20 was split into two, and the groups took turns being dropped off and picked up, then leapfrogging the other group to be dropped back in the water. All up, we had three turns with the whale shark as well as a practice snorkel at the reef beforehand.

We were out in the open ocean past the reef, so there was a current, local chop and a big rolling swell, which made swimming more challenging. I couldn’t keep up enough to get a photo, but Andrew did. The photos here are by their resident photographer, Caitlin Grace, who was not only a great photographer but a wonderful guide and conversationalist.

Cape Range National Park

We drove into Charles Knife Canyon in Cape Range National Park. There was a 3-4-hour walk at the end of it, but we didn’t allow enough time. It would have been amazing. As it was, we loved the sights.

Coral Bay

Coral Bay is a tiny town that serves as a tourist entry point to the Ningaloo Reef. They have a resident population of manta rays, so there’s a high chance of seeing one if that’s your desire.

There’s a small shopping mall including a supermarket, newsagent, bakery, hairdresser and dive shops. New accommodation is being built and there seems to be a lot of activity, so depending on when you come, there might be more here by the time you arrive.

Accommodation

We stayed at Ningaloo Coral Bay – Bayview in a motel-style bungalow. There are also several campgrounds.

Coral Bay Restaurants

There are three cafes/restaurants, all of a similar high standard, particularly the seafood:

• Bill’s Bar.
• Reef cafe.
• Fin’s cafe.

Coral Bay Activities

Manta Ray Tour

We went with Ningaloo Coral Bay Boats, who did an excellent job.

To start, we did a practice snorkel in a coral garden and swam with turtles and reef sharks.

The process of swimming with the manta rays was similar to the whale shark tour, but it was inside the reef, so the water was calmer making the swimming much easier. Manta Rays can swim up to 55 kph and they don’t swim in a straight line, so how much you get to see and how long you can stay with them depends on their behaviour.

Our guys were really chill as they were at what’s called a cleaning station, which is basically a day spa for sea creatures. The manta rays swim around with their mouths open while little fish dart in and clean their gums (they don’t have teeth) and others clean the barnacles off their bodies. We saw five manta rays, which the guides said was unusual, and one of them was a melanistic manta ray, which meant it was black on the top and the bottom, whereas the others were white on the bottom. We had about an hour in the water and it was magical.

These excellent photos are by Robin Vee of Ningaloo Coral Bay Boats.

Coral Bay Shark Sanctuary

Skeleton Bay, a twenty-minute walk along the beach from Coral Bay, is a shark sanctuary. We saw sharks, sting rays and a critically endangered sawfish.

ATV Tour

Andrew did this one without me (too noisy for me) through Coral Coast Tours, who did a fabulous job. They rode All-Terrain Vehicles, ATVs, along the sand dunes to Five Fingers Reef and snorkeled there.

From the clifftops, they spotted turtles and an osprey who had just caught a fish. In the water, they saw a school of cuttlefish.

It was dusty, so if you do it, take a buff and keep the sand out of your mouth.

Summary

If you love marine life, Ningaloo Reef is an absolute gem. There is a wealth of material for photographers. If hiking’s more your speed, allow a few days to go for walks in the various gorges in Cape Range National Park.

To explore all the beaches, you’d need longer than our nine nights. We could have spent an extra few days chilling out and a few days exploring. If you only have a week, I’d suggest staying at Exmouth and doing that properly. If you have longer, add in Coral Bay, especially if you want to swim with the manta rays.

We loved the Ningaloo Coast and hope to return. For now, it’s back to real life. We’ll leave you with one final photo.