Coral Bay

I have never been to Coral Bay before but have heard good things about the place. On arriving it was quick to see it certainly lives up to its reputation.

A very small, relaxed beach town situated on the shore of one of the most beautiful beaches. When I say town, there really is not much there so it is important to bring in supplies if you are staying here. A very small supermarket that is out of this world expensive, a restaurant, a bakery and a few little shops that sell and hire diving gear and souvenirs.

Kids at the swimming pool

Coral Bay on sunrise

The beach 

Charlotte and Abigail about to get in the water with me

There are two large caravan parks. We were booked into the Bayview.  Even though we were out of school holidays it was still completely full and some vans were even turned away as there were no sites left.  Funny because some people have said to me that I was ‘too organised’ when it came to this trip. And yes I will admit I am a little bit anal when it comes to knowing where we will be and where we will stay. But when we arrived in Coral Bay I was thankful for the booking I had made (and paid for) way back in January. It has really helped us keep in our budget when we stop at the parks I have already booked and paid for months ago.

The campsites were small and we were camped VERY closely to the people behind us, lucky for us they turned out to be really lovely people. They gave us fresh fish that they caught on their boat and we had many chats. When were were packing up they came to comment how well behaved our girls were for our stay. Which was nice to hear!

The caravan park had a huge playground and jumping pillow, which was a hit with the kids. We were camped right across from it and the kids could come and go as they pleased, as long as they only stayed in the playground. There were so many kids all hanging out together. My three even caught up with some children they had met in Kalbarri so it was like seeing long lost friends!  There is also a swimming pool I the caravan park that we spent our afternoons.

We were about 50 metres walk to the beach and we spent our first morning in Coral Bay down there. The kids paddled in the water and played in the sand and we all ate salt and vinegar chips. The water is so crystal clear and protected by the reef so it was basically like a big swimming pool.

Every morning during our stay I would go for an hour walk on the beach as the sun was rising and then Craig would tag team me and go for an hour on his own. I loved that time in the morning to just walk and look and have some time to myself.

On our third day in Coral Bay we went on a glass bottom boat tour. I was rather nervous about this, after I booked it I actually felt a bit sick! Number one I get sea sick and I wasn’t looking forward to that bit. Also the tour offered two snorkeling spots and I was worried about trying to get in the water and having the kids on the boat etc.

It turned out to be great, with the exception of me wanting to throw up for the last half an hour! I was so proud of the kids because all of them actually got in the water with us. The boat offered swimming vests and pool noodles and the kids got to cling onto a bit of rope off the end of the boat so they wouldn’t drift away. I was surprised at how strong the current was and even though I am a reasonable swimmer I was still thrown around a fair bit trying to hold the go pro, the kids and my own snorkel gear.

Our last day in Coral Bay saw us doing a bit of four wheel driving in the morning, then hanging around the caravan park in the afternoon to catch up on school work, washing and to start packing up for our drive to Exmouth the following day.

We all loved Coral Bay and since it is only 12 hours from Perth it will definitely be on the list of places to visit again.