Ningaloo Reef Dive Liveaboard

At the end of August, Shore Thing departed for its first all out dive expedition with a group of eager divers from Perth. The group had arrived on Friday for a long weekend getaway but we managed to see and do more than you would expect was possible in a week. We checked all the boxes, Manta Rays, Whales, Sharks, Turtles, sting rays, fishing, scuba diving, and there was even time to chill out and relax!

Too fit everything we wanted to do in to just 3 days there was no rest for the adventurous. An early start, following our overnight anchorage and dive, saw Shore Thing weave its way through the large coral fields that give Coral Bay its name, whilst our guests feasted on freshly cooked breakfast. Dive number two saw us break on out behind the main reef crest and dive “The Elbow”. Excellent visibility was accompanied by all things great and small, from Nudibranchs and Pipefish to Wobbegong Sharks, large stingrays and Grey Reef sharks. Unfortunately though what we were after, Manta Rays, evaded us so our search would continue.

Once all divers were back on board we headed north. It was a perfect winter day out on the Ningaloo Reef (hard to believe with the temperature creeping towards 30c!), dolphins were sighted from the bow. A couple of fishing lines were in the water as we cruised on the outside of the reef and it before too long we had a nice Spanish mackeral on board that would go down well as some fresh sashimi and satisfy this group of divers for the evening meal. Before that though we were in the water another two times for a dive being serenaded by passing humpback whales and an eye opening snorkel at Luke’s favourite spot “The Fishbowl”.

Eye opening was an understatement for the afternoon snorkel at the fishbowl with a good chance to see some reef sharks and maybe a turtle, everyone was blown away by the in your face snorkel which threw up a staggering 6 tawny nurse reef sharks plus another 4 or 5 other reef sharks and 3 turtles. Fish life was everywhere! so much so that some of the marine life, including one poor old Tawny Nurse reef shark, didn’t know where to go at times. With only half the group joining us on that snorkel, once the stories were heard and pictures were showed off back on Shore Thing there was an early morning snorkel planned for the next day which did not disappoint.

Following that early morning snorkel we headed outside the reef again and towards one of our most recent discoveries, “The Coliseum”. After a slight distraction on the way out to the site, (that being a shark eating what we had hoped would be lunch!) the group descended into the calming blue to surface some 40 mins later with stories of Giant Trevally, anemone fish and yet more sharks. Before we even had the chance to pick up the anchor, humpback whales were sighted breaching not far off, so we were off for the next activity….whale watching.

As we headed towards one group of whales that were putting on a show, we didn’t notice another couple of large adults creep up on us and surprise us with their equivalent of a great big boo! That being the sound of the blow of an unexpected whale only 15m away, these 2 whales were quite inquisitive and came back 2 or 3 times for a closer inspection much to the delight of the group observing from the bow. Wow, what a morning and it was only half way through Day 2!

Before the day was out we made sure everyone was going to sleep well that night with two more dives, the first being at “The Labyrinth” followed by another night dive at “The Porites”.

Our final day started off with an early morning snorkel at “Oyster Bridge”, not even a stone’s throw from picturesque sand dunes that make up the shoreline of this remote part of the world. Following that the search was really on for Manta Rays as we cruised through Batemans Bay, probably the most reliable area to swim with manta rays on the entire Ningaloo Reef and possibly all of Australia. And did we succeed or did we succeed! We swam with not one, not two, but over 8 different Manta Rays!

We starting off with just the one Manta Ray that was gliding just below the surface when it was joined by a 3m Hammerhead Shark. It was a surreal moment, as the shark swam right below us and then right under the Manta, the manta didn’t react and I’d be lying if I said our hearts didn’t skip a beat but before we knew it our focus had switched from the Manta to the shark as it started doing figure of eight patterns on the bottom of the bay churning up the sand. Our Manta action wasn’t done with yet though, as we came across another Manta surface feeding. It was an all black manta, often referred to as a vadar manta in other parts of the world. One of our guests, Simon, mentioned how rare he thought this was from his experiences in other parts of the world but I reassured him that at Ningaloo, although not as common as the normal manta rays (white underside), we were quite lucky with a number of resident black Mantas, including “Elle” and “Whoopy”, regularly sighted and often in a pregnant state.

We weren’t done with yet though and before we knew it we found ourselves in just 4 metres of crystal clear water, being buzzed by up to 6 different Manta Rays all surface feeding. A few of us jumped in the water but these guys were moving fast, it was a lot of fun but I think some of the group who stayed on board had just a good experience observing everything from above the water as we did in the water.

Once again after a very active morning we put some more fuel back in our engines with a gourmet lunch. As some of us were letting our food settle and prepare for the final dive, some of the group went for a short snorkel to visit a new site we call, “Whale Bones”. This is the remaining skeleton of a humpback whale that died earlier in the year and washed in over the reef. It makes for a very interesting snorkel. And finally our trip was almost over… I said almost!

We still had one more dive planned at the very popular Coral Bay Shark Cleaning station, and I don’t think anyone was disappointed. The hard coral coverage at this site is amazing with some great formations, but what we were after was sharks, Grey Reef Sharks, and we were not disappointed. With over 10 sharks seen, at times 3 or more cruising in a tight formation through larges schools of Trevally and barracuda, the adrenalin was pumping. Ranging from 1m up to 2.5m in length these sharks come to this part of the reef to be removed of parasites and other unwanted matter. Staying still and relaxing is the key to observing these sleek animals and when doing so they at times come to within a few meters, almost touching distance. It certainly gets the heart pumping a little quicker and it was an amazing way to cap off an amazing 3 days on the Ningaloo Reef.

All the group had a great time and the crew of Shore Thing had an amazing time too showing off this beautiful part of the world that still remains untouched and in pristine condition, and we can’t wait to welcome back another group from Perth Scuba next year. Hopefully they can join us for 5 days next year and I can’t even begin too think how much we’ll track down and see if it is anything like this year.

If you’re interested in scuba diving or snorkeling why not come and let us show you the best that Ningaloo has to offer. Check out our calendar and make a booking enquiry for 2011.

Places are limited so book early to avoid disappointment.

I’ll post some more information on the Manta Rays of Ningaloo and Coral Bay in another post soon.

Wedding Bells

August saw yet another first for Sail Ningaloo with Shore Thing hosting it's very first Wedding ceremony and reception.The weather leading up to the big day was anything but perfect however, on the day someone upstairs must have been smiling down on our soon-to-be newly weds. The clouds parted and the glorious blue skies that we are so use to here at Coral Bay came through, the wind dropped and the seas were calm, it was the perfect afternoon for a wedding on the Ningaloo Reef.

The guests that journeyed from all over the country boarded early in the afternoon, and with the bride already aboard and hiding away with her maid of honor and a bottle of champagne to settle any last minute nerves, it was only a short cruise out to one of Coral Bay’s finest lagoons for the big event.


After a small and intimate ceremony the champagne was flowing with cheers for the newly weds. Some freshly prepared canapés were first out of the galley and in no time at all empty plates were heading back in! There was a constant supply of tasty treats and no one went hungry, or thirsty for that matter. The sails were hoisted and we were off for a sail as the sun began to dip towards the horizon.

The festivities continued well into the night before it was finally time to leave the newly weds as they enjoyed an exclusive night on Shore Thing all to themselves.

The festivities weren’t over though as bright and early the next day everyone was back on board to explore the many wonders of the Ningaloo Reef. After a couple of snorkels and some of the best coral they’d ever seen, along with turtles, rays and reef sharks (yep we are on to something as we tracked down that school of 50 juvenile reef sharks again!), a feast was once again presented and a few cold drinks enjoyed.

The day was finished off with some whale watching and a relaxing sail back in towards Coral Bay. What a way to celebrate a wedding!

Why does a Whale’s hump wiggle ?

Numerous times this season we have been privileged to see some amazing humpback whale action from near and afar.


We have seen young calves possibly only days old, we have seen ancient mariners that have been cruising the Indian and Antarctic oceans for years longer than we have been part of this world. We have seen whales at rest and at play. Every interaction is different and nature can never be as simple as a mathematical equation, nor would we want it too, but I have a question that I would like answered…….

Why does a humpback whale's hump, it’s dorsal fin, wiggle at times when it comes to the surface to breathe ?

It may sound very trivial, and it probably is, but it intrigues me when we are fortunate enough to have whales come and check US out and we get a nice close look, to see this huge mammal, wiggle its tiny little fin.

If anyone out there knows, can they please enlighten the rest of us!!

What a Whale of a Day !

August has just started and it’s the middle of winter but boy oh boy is it warm!

In these winter mornings there is a breeze blowing cool air from the inside of this remarkable continent. That makes for a perfect day to raise the sails and head out whale watching, relax, unwind and then jump in the crystal clear waters of the Ningaloo Reef in the afternoon and go exploring.

Our crew on this day was a real mixture. British, Italian, & Australian as always lead by John, Luke & Lannie.

We headed out of the reef under full sail, all eyes on the lookout for and spouts of humpback whales in the distance. It wasn’t the fine mist of spouts that we sighted though, rather the huge splashes of breaching whales in the distance.

Having watched our first 2 whales continue their determined journey north for half an hour we headed back towards Batemans Bay and came across another 2 whales resting in the calm blue waters.

With the sun nearing its peak in the sky the wind had dropped off and the day was turning out to be a real gem. Whale spouts could be seen to the North of us and even to the south of us. It wasn’t too long and a couple more whales came to check out good old Shore Thing, not once, not twice, but 4 times they came in to have a real good look at what Shore Thing had too offer, and boy oh boy did the the crew on board get a good look. One of our youngest crew members for the day, Taeya, all the way up from Melbourne, felt the mist from the whale’s spout as it came up right next to the boat to say hello.

The whales were off again though, determined to catch up with some old friends and we also started heading into towards Coral Bay as the bbq was being cooked. As we sat down to eat yet another freshly prepared meal by Lannie, featuring some homemade burgers, lentil salad, and pasta salad, John had eyed off yet another bit of whale action not too far away.

As we glided over, plates of food were hurriedly finished off and cleared out of the way as everyone made their way up on deck for a prime position as a small humpback calf, probably only a few weeks old was trying to breach for possibly the very first time. The little guy was being watched over closely by his very large mother and another whale, probably their escort.

The mercury was rising and it was time for us to get in the water and practice some of our breaching as well. Ok so we weren’t breaching but we had a damn good time snorkeling in “Pandora’s garden” as we came across 5 different turtles, a large sting ray and the true highlight was 50 baby reef sharks all about 50cm long!

Another great summer’s day out and about on the waters of Ningaloo Reef aboard Shore Thing….wait a second! It’s winter isn’t it? Why was it so hot then? 27c is not winter is it? Am I going crazy?

Who’s complaining?

The Best Family Holiday Ever!

It’s July and it’s school holidays! Time to get out and have some fun.

Off we went and we sure did make the most of it. Some glorious weather greeted us and the reef was truly our playground. We had more interactions with humpback whales than we have ever had before and we even managed to convert 2 of our youngest guests to the wonders that are humpback whales.

Cruising along the outside of the reef under sail we had to keep a good look out because the weather was so good that all the whales seemed to be resting and catching some shut eye before they continued all the way north to Broome. We must have encountered at least 7 different whales that were resting and just motionless at the surface. We didn’t want to disturb them though and we didn’t have to because there was a constant stream of whales coming up from southern waters.

We managed to get some great images and David, our guest on board, got some great shots of one whale breaching. We have never seen a whale breaching so many times, it must have breached no less than 50 times as it moved north along the reef and that was what we saw. When we decided it was time for us to head back into the reef it was still breaching as it continued north.

It was a great few days which seemed to bring highlight after highlight, as David wrote in our guest book...

“Well what can I say, fantastic catamaran, great snorkeling, awesome whale watching, outstanding meals, and that was just the first afternoon…It could not have been better, one of our most memorable holiday trips ever!...p.s. since writing this I’ve just had a swim with Manta Rays and another with Grey Reef Sharks…simply amazing end to the trip!”

Well I think David said it all, and thankyou to David for his kind comments.

Don’t you wish you were here?

You can see some of the images we captured on that trip at our Humpback Whale Photo Gallery

Special Place - Special Times

Special Place – Special Times
Once again we were out and about in June, Whale shark sightings around Coral Bay had started to drop off but they were replaced with Humpback Whales.

We headed out for 5 days with our guests Dennis & Fran and another first for Shore Thing as Fran celebrated her Birthday on Board, 21 again wasn’t it Fran ?!

Although the weather gods kept us on our toes, we still managed to tick all the boxes and create a few more to try and better in the future.

Manta Rays, Dugongs, Turtles and whales were all sighted on regular occurrence and were duly logged in the Shore Thing mega fauna sightings log.

This time we ran into a new friend, a Bottlenose Dolphin that was

cruising around the North Reef and Stanley Pool area all on his lonesome and decided to come and ride the bow wave of Shore Thing, not once but 2 days in a row, and on the second day he (or she) earned his nickname, Leapin Leroy, as Lannie captured this photo of him jumping clear out of the water. He did this about 5 times and had everyone on board cheering.

Needless to say there was some pretty epic snorkelling missions, with Dennis & Fran just as keen as the crew to get into the water and see what they could find.

One of the highlights would have to have been the sail back north towards Coral Bay. Having checked out a nice surf break and watch some talented surfers at play we went outside the reef under full sail to try our hand at catching the evening meal.





It must be said that it is pretty hard to get Dennis to share his excitement as on a couple of occasions he sighted a whale breaching, but failed to voice the obligatory scream of “BREACH!” to let everyone else know what was going on. Thankfully though after losing one good sized fish that he got right into the back of Shore Thing, on the second hook up, after a few minutes he filled us in on what was going on and John and Dennis managed to land a good sized Spanish Mackeral! Dennis had even brought his own Wasabi so there was no surprise what he had on his mind!

And so it was, another 5 days out exploring the Ningaloo Reef and still new things were found and no doubt there’ll be more soon.

Ultimate Ningaloo

Autumn was upon us but you’d barely realise it up at Ningaloo, although the nights started to cool down the days were still beckoning to be explored and made the most of, and that is what we did as we ventured out for our first full 9 day ultimate Ningaloo trip.

After a couple of days spent to the south of Coral Bay at one of our favourite spots, Sandy Point, we started heading north on the outside of the reef under full sail, the lines were out in an attempt to catch something for lunch and It didn’t take long before our guest John had landed a nice Yellow fin tuna. Sashimi and fresh tuna steaks for lunch it will be then!

It was a glorious evening for a sunset sail in Batemans Bay and what better way to enjoy it than with some tasty sunset snacks and some cool West Australian white wine.

After a brief respite and tidy up of the boat on Day 4, we were off again and this time heading North towards Norwegian Bay. As we passed through Batemans Bay we were not disappointed by the wildlife. Turtles, Dugongs, Dolphins and our favourite, the Manta Ray were spotted. David & Irene’s first ever Manta Ray was a large black female Manta, a few scars near her tail didn’t stop here as she cruised backwards and forwards line feeding at the surface.

On our journey North we stayed the night at the “Bungles”, a site Luke had nick named because of the all the large coral bommies that seemed to pop up everywhere. Irene hadn’t had the fishing line in for long before she had caught a decent sized Sand Snapper, not that great eating though so this one was thrown back to fight another day.

North we continued and we made it to Point Cloates, an area quite infamous for a number of Western Australia’s shipwrecks prior to modern navigational equipment. Shore Thing was safe and sound though, in a perfectly selected anchorage whilst the crew got some sand beneath there toes as they went ashore to check out the view from atop some of the dunes that lay at the foot of the historic Point Cloates lighthouse.

The next day saw us cruise into Norwegian Bay and explore the ruins of the whaling station. Our personal mission this time was to try and locate the head stone of 3 Norwegian Whalers that died around 1914. Unfortunately though it still evades us and has probably been covered by dune encroachment.

That afternoon though we discovered a new snorkeling site that was teeming with life. It has been nicknamed “The Nursing Station” due to the 3 Tawny Nurse sharks that were discovered sleeping there. Not only were there tawny nurse sharks but also some other Reef Sharks and plenty of Turtles. Unfortunately though the turtles were quite shy and easily evaded our cameras as they shot off at a rate of knots!

Norwegian Bay was really at its best, crystal clear waters, wildlife galore and not another soul in sight. It is such a special privilege we have exploring these waters that time again, show us nature in an untouched state, this time we were graced by the presence of 2 adult dugongs and their young calf as they fed on the sea grass close to the anchorage of Shore Thing.

And so we started heading south again towards home and Coral Bay. As we cruised back through the Coral Gardens into port David’s response sums it all up. Asked how his 9 days had been, his answer “… I could do another 9 days right away!”

There you have it, 9 days isn’t even enough as you explore the Ningaloo Reef in style aboard Shore Thing!

Check out the website at www.sailningaloo.com.au to see when our next 9 day tour is departing.