We left Osprey this morning for a three day stay at Yardie Homestead Caravan Park. Sue schooled the girls on the way. While I set up the van, Sue put some laundry on and I returned to Osprey to pick up the tinnie, eating lunch on the way.
The view from our camp at Osprey just prior to packing up
When I got back, we drove to the lighthouse and enjoyed the view, spotting quite a few whales in the process. Sue received a voicemail message from her mum, asking her to call as soon as possible. She tried to get through, but had to leave a voicemail message of her own in return.
We drove from the lighthouse to one of the nearby beaches, where we spotted one of our neighbours fishing. While chatting to him, Sue got a message about a missed call on her phone, so we returned to the lighthouse, to get back into phone range. Sue called her mum and found out some bad news, that her dad had suffered a heart attack the night before. He was okay now, and stable in hospital, but had had a nasty scare. He was taken from home to the hospital having a lot of difficulty breathing. Sue later managed to speak to him and found out that he would have to spend a couple more days in hospital before returning home.
Relieved that everything would be okay, we left the lighthouse for a second time and dropped into the Jurabi Turtle Centre nearby. We all learnt some interesting facts about the lifecycle of loggerhead, green and hawksbill turtles. They return to the Ningaloo coast each October to breed, so we might have a chance of seeing some later in the month.
We returned home for happy hour and a quiet evening.
Yardie Homestead – 7 September 2012
After breakfast we went to the boat ramp at Tantabiddi to see if conditions were favourable for a fish, but the wind was up, so we returned to the park and decided to have a trip into town instead. Before we left I gave the car a bucket wash with a chamois, while Sue chatted with our neigbhours, Sandra and Dennis.
We dropped into the shell museum at the Lighthouse Caravan Park on the way, but it had shut 10 minutes … for the season. Scratch that idea. We left for town and made another detour, to have a look at the wreck of the SS Mildura at the top of the peninsula.
In town we had a leisurely stroll, chatting to a few shop keepers and had smoothies and milkshakes at a café. We returned to the van park and had happy hour with Dennis and Sandra, followed by a sausage sizzle for tea.
Yardie Homestead – 8 September 2012
The wind was down this morning, so we put the tinnie in at Tantabiddi and headed straight outside the reef. We found a nice drop off in about 18 to 26 metres of water and started catching fish straight away. Kelsey got a nice moses perch, which we kept. I was next on strike, and while answering the call of nature, the rod went off. Rod-hog Sue jumped on it and brought in a beautiful 60cm spangled emperor, which of course should have been my fish.
Sue with 'my' spangled emperor . . . .
Kelsey's nice Moses Perch
Next I caught a smaller red throat emperor and Georgia caught a nice stripey. We gave up the bottom fishing and trolled for a while without success. The wind spring up, so we headed inside the reef. We tried for some squid close to shore, again without success, until Sue called out she had something. It started striping line off the reel, unlike any squid, so I started the motor and we gave chase. We were only in about 2m of clear water, but with a bit of wind chop it was hard to identify the unseen jig muncher. We thought it may have been a foul hooked turtle, but eventually we got sight of it and discovered that somehow, Sue had managed to hook a shark of about 1.5m long. We still don’t know if the shark ate the jig, or a squid that had taken the jig, but it was well and truly hooked, and too big to fight on the light squid rod. The decision was made to break it off and sacrifice a jig.
On the way back to the ramp, we had a chance encounter with a pod of 5 dolphins. They followed us and rode on our bow for about 5 minutes, thrilling the girls and providing a great video opportunity.
We retrieved the tinnie and went back to camp to clean the fish. At the cleaning table there was a family consisting of a father and his 3 adult sons. We chatted to the father for about 30 minutes while one son cleaned a nice wahoo, coral trout and 2 big cod. They’d had a good day outside the reef, about 10km south of where we had fished. After the chat, I tidied up the boat and put it into storage behind the office at the caravan park. We arranged with Miffi, the manager, to leave it there while we spent the next 4 days at Coral Bay.
Coral Bay – 9 September 2012
We left Yardie Homestead and stopped in Exmouth for some fuel and a quick trip to the local monthly market, where Sue picked up a nice tie-dyed singlet. We arrived at Coral Bay at around 1.30pm and set up the van on a very small site. A walk over to the shops saw Sue purchase a nice hoodie, while I picked up a singlet for myself. We had a quick walk along the beach and returned to the van for happy hour, which was followed by a beautiful meal of battered spangled emperor and chips from the local shop.
Coral Bay – 10 September 2012
After a lazy breakfast we spent the morning on the beach. The girls spotted a lot of large spangos in the shallows and we all snorkelled together, seeing many colourful reef fish. I also spotted a school of snub nosed dart. We returned to the van and had toasted sandwiches for lunch.
Crazy snorkellers on the Coral Bay foreshore
A cheeky little lizard made itself at home on Sue's foot while we relaxed on the beach
Beach beauties frolicking in the shallows
We went over to the fish feeding later in the afternoon, where we got some good video and underwater photos of the big spangled emperor which come in for a feed and swim between everybody’s legs in the shallows.
Sue & Kelsey at the fish feeding
The stars of the show - large spangled emperor lining up for a feed
On the way back Sue and the girls stopped off at the pool for a swim, while I started happy hour.
Coral Bay – 11 September 2012
We left the van park and first headed down to the new boat launching facility south of Coral Bay. Very impressive! Then we continued back out to the highway and headed south for Waroora Station. Off the highway, the road in wasn’t too bad, narrowing as we approached the coast. We first stopped at 14 Mile Camp, which was set right on the beach, with a great view of the adjacent reef only about 1/2km from shore. It was quite a steep beach and would probably prove tricky for launching the tinnie. We continued on south through the station, checking out different beaches and camp areas, including Sandy Point and Elle's Beach, eventually ending up at Lagoon Beach, where we got out and stretched our legs. We took a few photos and then headed back on the road to Coral Bay.
Coastal view from Black Moon Cliff at Waroora Station
We went to the fish feeding again that afternoon, and once again got some good underwater photos. We all had a swim in the pool on the way back, before happy hour.
Coral Bay – 12 September 2012
After breakfast Sue and I gave the caravan a long-overdue bucket wash with a chamois. It came up a treat. We grabbed our gear and headed down to the beach, but it was very windy. We managed to find a sheltered spot and the girls fed some old bread to the fish at the water’s edge, attracting a small crowd of onlookers. We all had a quick snorkel in the warm water, before returning to the van. Sue played a bit of basketball with Georgia, while Kelsey and I had a lazy afternoon.
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