Cape Range NP/Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia
A day where we don't move the car is a rare day indeed. We stay put at our campsite, with a few hours of snorkeling in the morning on the reef--just 300 meters up the beach!--then relax for the afternoon.
Another pretty nice day here; last night the breeze picked up slightly and by morning some gray high clouds appeared. It looked like rain was on its way, but my California weather reading really doesn't apply here in the tropics, and the clouds did nothing but hang along the horizon and over the ridge to the east. And the breeze was nice, for it kept the flies away!
Chris and I wandered over to the beach as the sun climbed higher, and by 10:30 we were out in the water at that same site I found yesterday. Chris wasn't too thrilled with the whole scene, so he stayed in for half an hour or so until he got out and sunned himself on his towel. I got out too, grabbed the underwater camera, and headed for the outer reef, maybe 800 meters offshore.
The tide was coming in, and the lagoon was a bit choppier than yesterday, though nothing really outrageous... it was more like a small 6 inch swell that made you bob up and down. The tides here aren't much, and the high tide of 1.53 meters at 11:40am is only 90 centimeters above the days low tide in the early morning, but it was enough to make all the difference in snorkeling. At low tide, there just isn't more than about two feet of water above the coral bommies, so you have to swim around them, but at high tide, you get about four feet, which is perfect: close enough to get good pictures and see stuff, and far enough so you don't accidentally kick them.
There was quite a lot of fish life out there, much more than yesterday afternoon. I saw a sea turtle, three sting rays (the ones that are blue and orange spotted), as well as a good four dozen different fish species. I spent a couple of hours out there; it was great, and I hope all those pictures I took came out. Hopefully, by going out there midday when the sun is almost directly overhead means the colors will be good and the images sharp.
After snorkeling, we walked back along the beach, spotting a five foot long manta ray cruising just along the shore in not more than a foot of water! We had lunch, and read. I finished "Songs of Distant Earth", which I enjoyed immensely, and for whatever reason had never read before. Late in the afternoon, I took a walk and found a bottle tree (Brachychiton obtusilobis) growing on one of the sand dunes near camp... not even 200 meters from the beach. It was a squat tree, 2 meters tall by 4 wide. I know they like well drained soil, but that one's definitely a survivor from the looks of it.
And now, about 8:00pm, one of the other campers has come back to the campsites with his kids--and they've found ghost crabs on the beach. Cool. And sigh, as I finish this at 8:30, it's time for German Tourist Amateur Dijideroo Hour. Bloody hell. Oh well, it's still a pretty perfect day.
Weird Wildlife Sighting
Oh, plenty! As far as sea life goes, the turtles were neat, and so were the two rays. There were also these riduluously long and thin fish, about as big as my thumb, but two feet long, and there's the blue coral too. On land, just some more euro kangaroos. Oh, and the ghost crab too!