After running into the same people at Nanga, then Quobba Station who were heading to Coral Bay, we'd heard that it may be wise to book... Ahh, we haven't booked ahead for sites since we were in Adelaide at Easter! However, booking at Coral Bay is a must.

We arrived early afternoon and already both of the caravan parks were full, and there is no other camping alternative :-( Coral Bay is very small, just 2 caravan parks, a backpackers, a resort and a few shops... We decided to bite the bullet once more and fork out for a cabin, and the lady at the caravan park gave us a great discount for staying a few extra nights.

We ended up staying in a hilltop cabin with lovely views of the bay for 3 nights (and did all of our washing), and then moved to the other caravan park on a powered site for 4 nights.

Coral Bay is one of two places (the other is Exmouth), where you can access the Ningaloo Reef. From April to June you can swim with the whale Sharks, or year-round see and swim with manta rays, turtles and so on. Having splashed out on the cabin, we splashed out once more and went on a Whale Shark tour (at $375 per person, or $1200 for a family of four this is indeed splashing out).

There were about 15 of us on the boat for the day which includes multiple snorkelling stops, lunch, morning and afternoon tea and a beer. There were two families on the boat, and the youngest member to go swimming with the whale sharks was just 5. If your kids are competent snorkellers they can go in, if not they are welcome as observers on the boat. Swimming with the whale sharks is such an amazing experience and something you'll only ever do once - unless you choose to stay - as many do - and work on the boats.

The rest of our stay was filled with fishing trips both inside and outside the reef. Bearing in mind our tinnie is quite small (11ft), we were indeed adventurous explorers - but also got some good fish as well as seeing turtles and whales breaching!

Our tinnie fishing ended abruptly one day when we brought it up on the beach and got caught by a wave, rolling us both, the tinnie and sending gear into the surf everywhere. Thankfully no-one was hurt and a nearby beachgoer came to our assistance. The only thing that didn't come out of the boat was the lifejackets which were stuck up under the bow - lesson 1 - wear them!

Having put the boat to rest on top of the car, we restricted ourselves to snorkellling in the bay and visiting the snapper which they feed every afternoon in Bills Bay - they swim right around your feet!

Despite being a small town, Coral Bay is extremely busy, but its also very convenient to walk everywhere and has a fabulously safe bay beach for kids.