We had planned something different at Ningaloo.  We had seen the Warlu Way DVD that came with Australian Geographic and that sparked our interest in spending a day sea kayaking at Ningaloo.  We had booked with Capricorn Seakayaking for Monday but had to change to Tuesday, which turned out better.  We were to join a group that were doing a 5 day trip up the west coast from Yardie creek to Mangrove Bay.  Mangrove bay has numbers of sharks, dugongs and rays.  We joined the group on day 2 of their trip.  This was a 14km paddle from the rangers cottage where the group had spent the night up to the eco centre, passing a number of great snorkelling spots on the way.  Most of the other days they paddle about 6k so this was by far the longest.  We were picked up by Hal at 7am. Hal is a veteran and has an extensive knowledge of the local area, it's fauna and flora.  As we drove down to meet the group he pointed out plants, animals and birds that we would not have seen and told us of their significance.  The group, 3 couples were guided by Heidi, a young pommy girl, quite capable in a kayak.  The couples (and us) used double kayak while Hal and Heidi had singles. 

After a bit of tuition on the use of paddles off we went, a bit tentative at first.  Of course I got it wrong up front.  I thought that you steered from the front position but in fact, it's the rear seat that steers.  Never mind, off we went.  The wind was at our backs and was enough to unsettle the water so that we were not able to look down through the water to the reefs below.  After a bit over an hour we stopped for morning tea.  Then it was off again, quietly gliding across the water.  We passed deserted beach after deserted beach, all pristine.  Every so often we would see a turtle surface for air.  It was very peaceful and relaxing.  Sandy Bay was our lunch stop and a bit of drift snorkelling.  Wonderful reefs, as good as Turquoise Bay and we did the drift at least 4 times before lunch.  Lunch was laid out under a small tent, fresh salads, cold meat and bread rolls.  Very tasty.  And tea and coffee to finish. 

Then we were off again for the last stretch.  We gunned it a bit putting on a good pace and leading for a short while.  All too soon we were at our end point at Mandu south and beached the kayak.  Hal and Heidi paddled our kayak a bit further on to the vehicle which had the trailer for the kayaks on it.  Then we all got in the bus and back to our starting point where the rest of the group would camp the night.  Hal then took us back to our Lodge.  Along the way he told us about the limestone caves that have been found in the ranges.  There are over 800 of them so far.  The ranges are full of limestone caves and it would seem likely that in time these would be made available to tourists.

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This site was last updated 06/07/09