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!

Coral Bay is a popular holiday spot for West Australians in winter, but many don’t realise how stunning it is in spring and summer, especially outside school holidays.

It’s just down the road (by Western Australian standards) from Exmouth - 152 km to be precise - and well worth the journey. Four-wheel-drivers can take a short cut via Yardie Creek for a day trip. Otherwise there’s plenty of accommodation, but do book ahead.

You can take a catamaran tour over the reef here for spectacular snorkelling, or just float out from the beach. But above all, this is one of the most relaxing places to really get away from it all. Just a short walk from the main beach gets you to some virtually empty bays of soft sand and lapping turquoise water.

Take a look at these holiday snaps on Flickr - these are the kind of pics that make you just long to be there. Taken by real people on a real Coral Bay holiday (in winter), they give you an honest view of the place - no touch-ups or professional tricks in these pics. And I can vouch for the colours being true.

By spring, the temperatures are warming up to a perfect 30 degrees, hovering around 24 degrees in winter and rising to around 37 degrees in the height of summer.

So if you decide to visit and need advice on accommodation and tours, get in touch with us.

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

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.

We talk a lot about the colourful array of marine life swimming around the Ningaloo Reef - much of it visible to snorkellers as well as divers.

But until you’ve been here, it’s hard to imagine just how stunning our underwater world is. Have a rummage around this site set up by local diver Gudge, and you’ll see what we’re on about.

You might find Gudge’s temperature chart interesting too. From this data, it’s clear that the water’s at its warmest between February and May, rarely dips below 22C and reached a steamy 29.5C in autumn of last year. This, combined with great visibility and well preserved coral, attracts scuba divers from all over the world.

We’d love to see your underwater shots, so email them to us and we’ll publish a few in our blog.

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 …

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)!

Tourism WA have produced a stunning series of photos, including a number of photos from Ningaloo Reef. There are great shots of Whale Sharks, but also Green Turtles, Yellowtail and coral.

Its not just Ningaloo they cover, you can also see great shots of other West Australian locations such as the Bungle Bungles, Rottnest and Margaret River.

And importantly, that is where you can go to find the world famous ‘Ningaloo Girl’.

Exmouth really has a lot more to offer than just swimming with whale sharks, so its only fair that Tourism WA take the time to show off our beaches and water sports (such as kite surfing).

If you prefer it to the whale shark link … here is a text link to the WA Tourism photos on Flickr.