Today (Thursday) was a slow start. High tide was about 12:30. It could be the slowness was recovery from the gale overnight. Even with the fly on I woke up with grit throughout the house. There was a beach on the top of the tent and below the fly. A collection of sticks, twigs and grass was captured in the eddy above the door – only to be dislodged when I unzipped it this morning. The noseeum netting on my North Face Ventilator only acted as a siv to allow in the finest sand particles. I had a house cleaning today.
After a while I meandered down to South Mandu to sit in the car, out of the wind, to watch the tide come in. Then I drove down to Oyster Stack – about 2 minutes the other way – but never arrived. The track in was flitting with birds. A crimson chat and white-winged triller were new for the morning. About 9:30 I returned home for breakfast and to fix the strap. By noon I was ready to go.
The snorkeling was better then I had remembered – the trip to town yesterday to get the strap was worth the effort. Without noticing I spent 2 hours drifting along the coast. The further south I went the better it was. No sharks today – but four turtles. The little camera worked just fine. Towards the end I ran out of film. I will have to look for an underwater digital camera.
As I walked back the kilometer to the car I met a couple who had been snorkeling. They too said this was the best they had seen – and they didn’t even go to the end. Tomorrow they will try Turquoise Bay. I told them, “You will just come back here after a short time.” However to come to The Ningaloo and not snorkel Turquoise Bay would be a sin.
I was a little worried by my proclamation so went back to Turquoise Bay late in the afternoon. The current was slower and it was nice – but no comparison with Oyster Stacks – even seeing a turtle at 2 metres didn’t change my mind.
