Coral Bay Ecotours

The booking office for Coral Bay Ecotours was directly in front of our accommodation at the Peoples Park Coral Bay Caravan park on Robinson Street. They have a number of snorkelling and glass bottom boat tours along the Ningaloo coast and we quickly booked a spot on a "Swim with the Manta Ray" day trip.

Met at 8:30 am for this day tour with Eco Tours and were transported to the boat ramp. Our skipper for the day was Matt and the lead swimmer was Heather who were both supported by a friendly, helpful crew. There were about 16 people on the boat so it was a small group.  First stop a snorkel on the reef near a shark cleaning station. This is a spot that the sharks come and allow small fish to clean their teeth etc. - the group swam through a channel to see the sharks, the current can be strong. They were grey reef sharks and about six foot long. If you choose not to see this phenomena then a snorkel around the boat is encouraged to view some of the amazing fish and coral on this part of the reef.   

Back on board for morning tea which was vegetarian pizza bread and apple teacake from the Coral Bay bakery - yum. We then travelled to the turtle sanctuary and saw about two dozen turtles swimming in the water.  It was nearly nesting season so they come in close to shore for mating before heading up the beach to lay eggs.

A spotter plane flies overhead to locate the manta rays - this information is relayed to the boats on the water.  Several manta rays were spotted. There are rules and regulations about swimming close to these marine creatures and only 10 people are allowed in the water near each Ray.  There was another tour company using the same spotter plane so the skippers worked together allowing people in the water and keeping track of the Manta's.  We had the opportunity to see four manta rays that were barrel roll feeding and very close. Quite an unusual event and some of the crew had never seen this.

After this swim we had a lovely salad  and cold meat lunch on board the boat with great fresh rolls - again from the Coral Bay bakery. Then onto another snorkelling spot.  The was a really fun day and we were well looked after by Coral Bay Ecotours. They advise you to take something warm for the return journey - I suggest you take this advice as it can get very cool travelling in wet swimmers. RvTrips would not hesitate to recommend a trip with Coral Bay Ecotours.