Dive Review of Ningaloo Reef Dive in
Australia/Coral Bay, Western Australia

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Ningaloo Reef Dive: "Surprisingly good coral life, mantas almost guaranteed", Aug, 2023, by Phil Johnston, Bayswater, AU ( Top Contributor 30 reports with 29 Helpful votes). Report 12595.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This operator offers a number of half & full day dive / snorkel tours, I did the full day "Ningaloo Adventure & Manta Ray Tour" on 2 separate days. These were combined 2 tank dives / 1 manta snorkel. Around half the passengers on both days were pure snorkelers, many being family groups. I dived 3 sites over the 2 trips - Blue Maze, The Elbow & Asho's Reef. Whilst Coral Bay is essentially the southernmost extent of hard corals in Western Australia (winter water temperatures being a maximum of 20-21 degrees), I was very impressed by the lushness, diversity & health of the hard coral at the sites I dived. Fish life was not prolific but pleasant enough, turtles were seen on every dive. Macro life was only fair although did see the occasional nudi on each dive. "Asho's Reef" was definitely the pick of the 3 sites - excellent & varied hard corals, & a shark & turtle cleaning station at the top of quite a large expanse of crinkly hard coral. At least 1/2 dozen grey reef sharks visited the station for cleaning during the 10-15 minutes I was around the cleaning station. Manta snorkels were undertaken on each day trip. A spotter plane was used to give directional guidance to the boat. Mantas were seen from the surface regularly, but use of the spotter plane made sightings an almost certainty. I certainly saw mantas on both days, often with quite long snorkels over an individual manta & a pairing of a male & much larger female manta. I have dived the Great Barrier Reef multiple times with very few manta sightings, however they were more than plentiful in the Western Australian locations I visited on this trip (Muiron Islands, Exmouth & Coral Bay) - I would estimate I saw 14-15 over the course of 10 or so days. The trips were well organized, particularly as many of the passengers were very inexperienced first time snorkelers. A buffet lunch was put on with salads, meats, wraps, sandwiches & bread rolls, as well as morning tea of sticky bun. Guests gather at the operator's store in Coral Bay for fitting of rental wet suits & hire gear, & are bused to /from a wharf around 10 minutes from the shop where the boat is boarded. Coral Bay is very scenic, with some of the best beaches I have seen. Between dives / manta snorkels the boat cruised over the sand flats looking for larger sharks (eg tigers) which apparently hunt for turtles over those areas. Regrettably, I didn't see any tigers. Overall I really enjoyed Ningaloo Reef Diving's 2 day trips, for its (almost) guaranteed manta sightings, the sharks at Asho's Bommie, hard corals at all sites & beautiful scenery.
Websites	Ningaloo Reef Dive
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Australia, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia (Bali, Komodo, Rajah Ampat, Lembeh, Manado, Ambon) Cocos Islands, Mexico (Cozumel & Soccorros) Tonga, Galapagos, Tahiti, Maldives, Mozambique, Bahamas, Red Sea, Roatan, Philippines, Hawaii (Kona, Maui)
Closest Airport	Learmonth	Getting There	I drove from Exmouth in rental vehicle, around 2 1/2 hour drive
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	21-22°C / 70-72°F	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	15-20 M / 49-66 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	The usual, no deco diving, return with 50 bar. Dive sites were quite shallow so hard to get into trouble.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	No rinse tub on the boat. Basic rinse tub back at the shop. oat

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Dive Review of Ningaloo Reef Dive in Australia/Coral Bay, Western Australia

Ningaloo Reef Dive: "Surprisingly good coral life, mantas almost guaranteed", Aug, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Ningaloo Reef Dive in
Australia/Coral Bay, Western Australia