I often read and hear comparisons between the Great Barrier Reef and our own Ningaloo Reef. Some say the GBR can’t be beaten, others that Ningaloo is far superior.

So which offers the best experience?

Honestly - they are both fantastic, and both ‘musts’ for any adventure traveller, whether you’re a seasoned diver or inquisitive snorkeller.

But they are different, and if you have to choose, then the choice is purely personal.

Divers who have dived the GBR won’t rest until they’ve also dived Ningaloo which is considered the “next thing” - and many are frankly blown away by the experience. I have even heard some admit in hushed tones that actually, Ningaloo is right up there with the Great Barrier - I think the tones are hushed because they don’t want to be seen to insult a national icon.

Personally I love Ningaloo because it’s relatively undamaged by the trample of tourist fins. Hordes of overseas visitors have caused a lot of damage to the Great Barrier Reef, and here in Western Australia we hope to learn from this by focusing on ecotourism. We’re very protective of our beautiful reef and strict about educating everyone who ventures into the ocean about looking but not touching.

The reef is also very close to the shore, which means you can wade out to it with your snorkel when the mood takes you - no need to take a long boat trip. This appeals to a lot of independent travellers, who also love the relative uncrowdedness of the region.

Then there’s the light and colours, which are again quite different from the GBR. I’ll leave you with the words one writer chose to describe the Ningaloo shoreline in a recently published article:

“The sheltered shallow waters between the reef and the beach are crystal clear, and the white sand beneath shines through the bright blue, giving the beaches an incandescent quality.”

Take a look at these whale shark photos by William Thomas, a US fisherman who takes amazing pics!

Seeing the clear shot of a swimmer next to a 40-foot whale shark brings home the enormous gentle power of these animals. Easy to see why so many adventure travellers just have to do this!

We come across lots of whale shark photos and post the best of them. Send us yours!

How do you decide where to take your next holiday and the adventures you want to experience?

It’s fascinating to watch Internet activity - especially blogs - and see how real people spread the word around the world about their real travel experiences. I’d certainly be interested to know how you plan your holidays.

Gone are the days when tour operators like us relied totally on glossy brochures or even travel agents to sell our tours. Now our visitors are coming to us because they’ve browsed online and read about other people’s experiences.

I picked up this entry just this week, and is a great example of the potential power of real stories. If you read something like this when you were browsing for an adventure holiday, you’d probably sit up and take notice. Alex is right - swimming with manta rays is truly awesome.

And the great thing for us at Ningaloo is that almost 100 per cent of the stories we are seeing out there are not just positive but raving with enthusiasm! The fact is that Ningaloo sells itself. Once you’ve been and experienced it, you’ll want to tell the world about it - no exaggeration.

Q: What’s one of the most romantic places you’ve visited and what makes that location so special?
A: (from Elle Macpherson) Ningaloo Reef, a virtually untouched area in Western Australia, a beautiful haven of clear, tropical waters an endless blue sky.
Taken from “Getting Intimate with Elle”

I already knew that Ningaloo is one of Elle’s favourite destinations. She used to fly in on an exclusive jet for some R & R with her family. We’d all find out about it well and truly after they’d gone. The locals around here aren’t too fussed by glamorous stars, although I reckon if the male population had of found out, there would have been an entourage of local boys finding their way down there. I wouldn’t have bothered… it would have been far too depressing; at 5′4 I would merely vanish in her presence :)

I participated in a safari tour from Exmouth one day - the tour operator was an old Exmouth Legend - Neil McLeod. He told us about when Elle came to Ningaloo to film some ads for Tourism WA. He walked us through the experience… Neil on a beach with Elle who is topless (yes, that’s right, topless!!) getting her tea. Every man on the tour was green with envy!

So why would Elle love it here so much? I guess for the same reason that so many of us get stuck here: the pristine turquoise waters, amazing marine life and the huge stretch of vacant sandy beaches. We have paradise at our back door. My trip around Australia started and finished with Exmouth. It is one of the most amazing places in Australia. From a backdrop of rugged red canyons to the glistening pristine water, with the creatures that occupy both earth and sea - truly amazing. There is ALWAYS something you will come across that will take your breath away!

So, as the latest Tourism WA ad campaign says, “Where the bloody hell are ya?” Get out to the Cape Range National Park for an experience of a lifetime!

Watch this Channel Nine broadcast created after Jules Lund joined us in July to film the whale sharks!

It was an awesome day; we all had a ball and Jules was awesome!

The Ningaloo Blue crew are still recovering from the 2007 season; and the 2008 bookings are beginning to come in thick and fast.

This is just a reminder; if you are planning to visit the Ningaloo Reef in 2008 to swim with the hugemongous Whale Sharks; the most cost effective way to do this is to 1. Book ahead and 2. Book a package.

I can bundle up (sheesh sound like Telstra) your Whale Shark tour with accommodation / diving tours / car hire etc to get you the best value available! We pride ourselves on being Exmouths one-stop tour shop; where we’re able to give you an honest opinion on the various experiences / tour operators / accommodation available and can also assist you with general Exmouth enquiries.

PLease FREE CALL 1800 811 338 if you would like to start planning your trip and get some quotes etc and REMEMBER it’s ok to book an ‘OPEN’ ticket; and confirm the dates later!

Happy holidaying
Kat

As we wave goodbye to the whale sharks, the humpback whales arrive at Ningaloo for around four months as they migrate south to cooler waters in readiness for summer.

We regularly spot the whales while out on our fishing and diving tours, and we’re sometimes lucky enough to see calves with their mothers.

Many of the dedicated whale-watching tours enable guests to snorkel with manta rays too - two breathtaking experiences in one hit!

Contact us for more information.

September and October are fantastic months here in Ningaloo’s North West Cape, thanks to the wildflowers dotting the ranges - more than 630 species I’m told.

You can see the flowers by following the Cape Range Trail independently, or we recommend a tour with Ningaloo Safari’s Dave Mongan. Dave has taken over this popular tour company, which was built up by Neil McLeod - a local legend proudly supported by his mum’s famous fruit cake!

I love this Sydney Morning Herald article, which captures the character of the tour. Don’t miss it - whatever time of year you come. Dave not only hunts down the wildflowers, but local wildlife and photo opportunities too, with a Yardie Creek boat trip and snorkelling at Turquoise Bay thrown in for good measure.

Contact us if you’d like to book this tour. We can also help with accommodation and marine-based adventures to round out your holiday.

We’ve just picked up a great article in the New Zealand Herald: Australia - Out of the Blue.

It was written by a journalist we took out on one of our Whale Shark Ecotours recently, and gives a clear picture of the experience.

We’re delighted to see the coverage, so thanks Paul. We’d also like to thank Steve Gibson for the photo that appears at the top of the article.

Isn’t it fantastic that our reef has so much attention at the moment?!

Our pristine Ningaloo Reef hosts thousands of different species of fish and coral; the pristine waters need to be seen personally to be believed.

From Exmouth it is possible to access the Ningaloo Reef from the Cape Range National Park. This is located approx 30 min drive from the town centre.

Once within the National Park boundaries; there is an endless coastline of turquoise waters; unspoiled sandy beaches and snorkeling just a stones throw off the shore.

During the summer months the water temp is absolute beautiful (however the scorching summer heat can leave a lot to be desired); it can be a little cooler in the middle of winter; however the clear bright skies and warm sun; still make it a pleasurable experience.

Some of my favourite snorkel spots are: Turquoise Bay, Lakeside & Oyster Stacks. At all 3 locations there is an abundance of beautiful coral, colourful reef fish and the odd white tipped Reef Shark. It truly is an amazing experience!

The whale shark season may be over, but the adventure continues.

Now’s the time of year when the water temperature over the Ningaloo Reef begins to rise steadily to a 30 degree crescendo in summer. This makes the Reef ideal for snorkellers - and there’s certainly plenty to see and even photograph in our beautiful clear water.

Some of the best spots are at Ningaloo Reef Retreat and Turquoise Bay, where the coral begins just 10 metres off the beach. As summer draws on, this is the place to be, with temperatures on this west side of the cape around 8 degrees cooler than in Exmouth, thanks partly to a refreshing sea breeze.

As well as colourful coral and sponge gardens, the list of fish goes on and on - parrot fish, sea stars, humbugs, angel fish, clownfish, butterflyfish, surgeons and anemones. Patient snorkellers regularly spot huge lazy turtles, who can be seen heaving themselves up the beach to lay their eggs from November.

There are fantastic drift snorkels in both the Retreat and Turquoise Bay, and the Retreat has sea kayaks available for those who want to paddle further out to an area known as Blue Lagoon. Snorkelling and sea kayaking at the Retreat must be booked ahead. I recommend a full day tour that includes Turquoise Bay too.

Another good option is the Ningaloo Coral Explorer II - a glass bottom vessel that shows off the Ningaloo coral and has snorkelling options for those who want to get a closer look.

You can be sure of some stunning tropical fish on this tour, and their guests often spot manta rays, dugongs, dolphins, turtles and reef sharks too.

These are both great tour operators and I’d be happy to organise a snorkel for you. Contact me for further info.

Sadly the 2007 Whale Shark season has wound down, due to bad weather and some hard days where we didn’t get to swim with the Sharks.

It was quite deflating really. The 2007 season was my 4th Whale Shark season; this time of the year is such a highlight! The town is a buzz with Wicked Vans carrying lo9ads of backpackers and Skywest planes providing many more flights that usual carrying in punters from all over the world who are on a mission to swim with the biggest fish in the sea; the Mighty Whale Shark!”

The ‘end of season’ call didn’t really sink in until about 2 hours after we made the call as I had been side tracked preparing our application for the West Australian Tourism awards; so when it finally dawned on me; that it really was the last trip for the year I had a weird mixture of emotions…. sadness, emptiness and then finally excitement - as we are now in to our FISHING season!

Our first charter begins this Friday; and now the preperation for the 2008 Whale Shark season begins!

WOOHOO! The Whale Sharks are still here and are the best EVER!!

Yesterday we swam with 5 different sharks and saw approx 70 manta rays strung across the back of the reef all feeding in unison.

Leith our videogragher also managed to get some great footage of a bronze whaler shark that came up to check our group out.

A quick note on accommodation:

The town will swell to approx 10 000 people in the coming fortnight as we head into the July school holidays. Accommodation is booked out and has been since January; so if you are planning to come up this way it is worth booking your accom ASAP.

Photos and video of whale sharks are close to our hearts. We encourage guests to take photos and videos on our whale shark tour, and we’re always on the look-out for them as they get posted to sites and blogs.

Here are some great ones that appeared recently on NHNZ images and YouTube.

Of course it doesn’t substitute for the real thing …

The time that I’ve spent on the boat so far has been amazing. I’ve seen and done some brilliant stuff… Some of the highlights so far:

Well, obviously the whale sharks. We’ve seen really little ones, just 2.5-3m, all the way up to a 10m one - a female that looked suspiciously pregnant, so the industry and researchers working here are all very excited.

Whale sharks aside, my biggest highlight was a really long snorkel with about six manta rays. It was brilliant! They are such amazing creatures, very curious and very gentle - provided you don’t chase them, they’ll come within millimetres of you.

The scariest moment - and the biggest adrenaline rush so far - was when the skipper let us (just the staff, NOT the customers!) jump into a bit bait ball (heaps of krill and little fish), where we saw pygmy mantas and walls of tuna rushing through to eat what we were swimming in! When the tuna swam through the second time they split up into two separate groups and a 2m bronze whaler shark came through the middle of them and charged straight at us. Our videographer, Leith, charged back at it with his camera, which put it off for a while but didn’t stop it from circling under us until we got back on the boat. It was an amazing buzz to get that close!!

I’ve also swum with a baby hammerhead, we’ve seen orcas, humpbacks, huge pods of spinner dolphins, bottlenoses and other dolphins, tiger sharks and even blue whales. We’re really lucky here at Ningaloo because the reef drops off straight into the open ocean so anything and everything turns up.

As well as being out on the boat I’ve managed to fit in some time going out with pilots for the whale shark spotting. Seeing the sharks and other marine life from the air - especially the whales - is awesome, and the birds-eye view of the reef is absolutely breath taking.

Exmouth is a very special place.

We often get asked for advice on where to stay when visiting Ningaloo.

There are lots of options – many listed on our site. In this and future posts I’ll keep you updated, starting with the latest info for the increasing number of adventure travellers wanting luxury accommodation.

There are a few excellent options now, in particular the new Novotel, and two of our old favourites are still going strong – the Pot Shot’s Osprey Apartments and Ningaloo Reef Retreat.

The Novotel Ningaloo Resort is Exmouth’s newest edition, bringing luxury, elegance and style to our small town! Here’s an article from news.com.au: Reef resorts to luxury.

It’s situated right on Sunrise Beach, part of the new marina development, so ask for an apartment with ocean views. The restaurant and bar is superbly designed, and the quality of service and meals is a credit to the resort.

Couples and families can all enjoy the comfort of this 4-star resort.

The popular Pot Shot Resort houses Exmouth’s main bar, where both locals and visitors congregate. There’s a late night party atmosphere here over the weekend, with the Bamboo Bar (affectionately known as the ‘Bimbo Bar’ by locals) rockin’ on until late on a Friday night. There’s also a relaxed restaurant and a swimming pool.

As well as budget and mid-range accommodation, the Pot Shot’s luxurious self-contained Osprey Apartments are just across the road from the main resort. Some have spas, the prices are reasonable for the quality of accommodation, and again they’re suitable for both couples and families.

Finally, the Ningaloo Reef Retreat, on the west side of the North West Cape, is the ULTIMATE in remote yet comfortable camping. This is for true adventurers who are into deluxe ecotourism.

The retreat is located within the beautiful Cape Range National Park right on one of the most delightful beaches in the world, so you’re guaranteed an ocean view! Accommodation is in luxury tents complete with wooden floors, fully furnished, solar showers and decks overlooking the ocean.

Guests can just slip on some snorkelling gear and swim a few metres from the secluded beach in front of the Retreat to see beautiful corals and tropical fish.

A little further from shore you have a good chance of finding one of the turtles that live and breed in the sheltered waters. Guides are on hand to show you where the turtles rest among the coral gardens.

Further out again, the Blue Lagoon is a natural aquarium buzzing with marine life – the best snorkelling on the Ningaloo Reef and an easy paddle from the retreat on a double kayak.

Stargazing is another good reason to stay here. The Milky Way stretches from horizon to horizon, and if you opt to swag it outdoors or relax in a hammock in front of your tent, you’ll probably fall asleep counting shooting stars.

You can also hike easily from here into the Mandu Mandu Gorge for stunning views over the reef.

In my next accommodation post I’ll run through the caravan/camping parks and give you the heads-up on their particular characteristics to help you choose the one that suits you best.

Well - the whale sharks are absolutely CRANKING!!! I can’t help myself - I get so excited! Swimming with these wonderful creatures is still as much of a joy to me now as it was on my very first tour.

We’re hoping that with the fantastic numbers we’re currently seeing that the season will continue well in to July.

I joined the crew on Sunday and swam with three stunning whale sharks, including a young male at about 4m who was very cruisy and allowed us to have a really good look at him. Best of the day though was the 8m shark which was a little speedy but still breathtaking.

On Monday we broke our previous all-time record of nine whale sharks by swimming with 10 on one tour!! That’s ten different whale sharks. It was tremendous!

We also stayed behind after the whale sharks had left to swim with some AWESOME manta rays. As we gathered in a tight group and made sure they didn’t feel threatened by us, they milled around in front of us for quite some time. They were simply stunning.

Today we swam with four whale sharks by 11 am and had heaps of spinner dolphins playing at the bow of the boat.

Hope business is well for everyone. Remember if you ever need any POS or extra information on our tours or Exmouth please feel free to contact Mel or Kat in the office.

Happy days!

We recently had the team from Channel Nine out on the boat with us filming a segment for their brand new TV show, ‘10 Things To Do Before You Die’.

Here are some pics from the day, including presenter Jules Lund interviewing our videographer Leith Holtman.

Snorkelling with whalesharks is most definitely one thing to do before you die! Some of the comments we receive in our guest book and emails every day confirm this:

…we had the best day and are still raving about it to everyone at work! Vanessa, Perth

The best trip of my life! Ben, Rockhampton

I wanted to email you this photo - I thought he looked like the king of the ocean even though he was only 2 metres small!!! He was magnificent!!! Hiroe, Japan

It was simply the best thing I have ever done (and I have done some fantastic things!)…. Linda, Scotland

Wow! What a day we had on Friday - not only did the group swim with a giant 10 metre whaleshark, but it was female and pregnant! Quite rare to find on the Ningaloo Reef, as we see mostly juvenille males as a rule. So big smiles all around from both customers and crew. A group of local eco researchers got a close encounter while trying to measure her - she turned 90 degrees, and was pretty well right in front of them before they knew it! If you’ve ever tried to get away from a 10 metre whaleshark you will know how difficult it can be!

The manta rays have put on an early show this season, with swimmings becoming a regular occurance on the eco tours. We get pygmy manta rays as well as the oceanic mantas here on the Ningaloo Reef, and they are both two of the most graceful creatures you will encounter in the ocean. Gliding, barrel rolling, breaching and mating chains are just some of the behaviours we observe from the mantas at Ningaloo, and the season is only just beginning!

A HUGE decision which will impact whaleshark numbers around the world, is the recent abolishment of commercial fishing on whalesharks in Taiwan. Traditionally thought of as a delicacy in some Southeast Asian countries, whalesharks were hunted and called ‘Tofu Meat’ due to their similarities in taste to tofu. Last Friday came the news though, and banning the fishing of these majestic creatures is a huge step forward in the protection of a largely defenceless animal. We’re all having whaleshark parties over here in Exmouth!

The humpback whale season is just about to begin, with 2 lone females sighted over the past few days! We can’t wait for the humpback adventure to begin. Exmouth is a great place to view theses creatures, as they come into the Exmouth Gulf for a bit of R & R before resuming their migration. So breaching, fin slapping and hearing the huge ‘whoosh’ of their breathing spurts is a common sight (and sound) during the coming months.

Hi to everyone who has been on our Whaleshark Eco Tour this season (and previous seasons)!

Welcome to the new Ningaloo Adventure Travel blogsite. This site is run the team at Ningaloo Blue, and we’d love to see you come on one of our tours.

As there is so much to do up at Ningaloo, we figured we take some time to explain not just our adventure travel opportunities, but also those around us.

So jump on in, and make sure to leave us a comment on what you like, and get in touch with us if there is some specific information you’d like to see.