I think I've made an important medical breakthrough in the field of phobias. If someone has a phobia, all you need to do is buy the affected person an expensive piece of kit which will distract them from the source of their distress.

For example, if someone - anyone at all, though for the sake of argument, Katy - has a fish phobia, then purchase them a waterproof camera. They will then snap away to their heart's content, unruffled by the presence of creatures which would once have sent them into a blue screaming fit. How do I know this? Because of our experience at Coral Bay…

After Point Samson, we had originally planned to head for Exmouth and only then down to Coral Bay. However, someone we met mentioned that the latter would be absolutely booked solid for the school holidays in four days time. We therefore took the illogical route and headed for Coral Bay first and were very glad that we did.

Coral Bay is a lovely place, but very small. There are two campsites, a couple of motels, a hotel with bar, a backpackers hostel and a handful of shops. And the person we met was correct - we managed to scrape a spot in one of the camps, but by the weekend it was completely full for the next fortnight. The main vacations around Christmas and in July are reportedly booked up two years in advance.

The main attractions are the long, sweeping beach of silver sand and the close proximity to Ningaloo Reef. Although much less well known than the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo has the immeasurable advantage that in places it is only metres off the shore. So instead of having to take a costly boat trip, you can just swim out and have a look down at the coral and the brightly coloured fish.

Well, you can if a) you can swim, b) aren't scared of fish, and c) preferably have a snorkel. So with one of us counted out on point a), the other on point b) and both of us on point c) we weren't likely to see a lot of the reef!

For our first day, we therefore contented ourselves with a walk along the beach and a paddle in the bright blue, balmy Indian Ocean. Did I say balmy? Well, it looked warm, but as soon as our toes hit the water we realised it was bloody freezing! This was probably caused by the fact that there was quite a steep drop into deeper water close to shore.

It's also a misnomer to describe the sea simply as 'blue'. There were many different shades of blue, reflecting the different depths and the variety that lay beneath the water. We described it as a 'rainbow of blues'.

As we paddled bravely along the shore, we noticed a couple of rather large fish patrolling up and down the line of the deeper trench. Katy gave her usual squeal of "Fish!" and exited onto the sand, before steeling her nerves and returning to the shallows in a largely unsuccessful attempt to get a decent photo of them. (See where I'm going with this?)

The next morning, we resolved to try again - with mixed results once more. However, as we passed the area of beach from where the tour boats leave, we noticed a family in the water beside one of the boats. One of the crew had thrown a handful of fish food into the sea and about 20 large snapper were gobbling it up.

Shutting out her phobia, Katy ventured closer in her quest to get the best shot possible. She didn't just stand on the edge of the water, she stood in it and put the camera beneath the surface to get both stills and video of not just the snapper, but some smaller, more brightly coloured fish as well.

The only dicey moment came when the crewman decided to throw some more food into the water. This caused all the fish to surge around in a fishy maelstrom, rubbing up against Katy's legs as they did so. I think it's fair to say that she wasn't too happy with this as she went quite white and rigid. If it wasn't for the fact that she was ankle deep in sand and knee deep in water, I think she would have taken off! As it was, I had to grab her to stop her falling over. Once all the food was gone, everything was fine again, but we made a gracious exit.

That afternoon, we decided to go for a walk around the north side of the bay. We tramped along the sand and rocks and Katy saw a couple of rays in the shallows. We had heard there were harmless manta rays in the bay so she tried to get closer to take photos, but they were very shy creatures and kept slipping away as she approached. She got a couple of shots and some videos in the end, though not as good as she would have liked.

We continued walking until we came to a point, then continued around into the next bay. There, we could see that a reef had formed a very shallow lagoon so we decided to wade across in a leisurely fashion - with Katy taking photos - because the water wasn't more than knee deep.

I went ahead and as we reached about halfway, I noticed some black rocks a little way in front so altered course a little to avoid them. Then I noticed that the black rocks appeared to be moving. "Aha, they must be more snapper," I thought, before remembering that snapper aren't black. Nor are snapper about four feet long. Nor do they have triangular dorsal fins, as I realised a few moments later. Yes, they were sharks!

Following just behind, Katy realised this at about the same moment and we both decided that discretion was the better part of valour and took the shortest route to the beach. As we did so, most of the sharks headed to our left, though a couple went the other way so we had to keep an eye open in both directions. We were tremendously British about the whole affair though, keeping the proverbial stiff upper lip and refusing to panic.

When we emerged onto the beach we were greeted by an Australian couple who had watched us with great amusement. "That was brave of you," they said. Brave? Ah, ignorance is bliss! The man said he had his phone ready to catch the video of us being torn to pieces so he could post it on YouTube. I could criticise his callousness, except I would undoubtedly have done the same in his place!

The couple told us that the creatures were Black Tipped Reef Sharks and not normally dangerous. The area was apparently a designated nursery though there was only one small sign which we hadn't seen because of our watery route. The sharks enter the lagoon to feed on the many small fish they find there. Luckily, they have little appetite for stupid Pom tourists.

While chatting to the Aussies, we mentioned that we had seen manta rays on our walk. They raised a joint eyebrow and asked if these rays were very large and black, or small, brownish and with a tail. We admitted that the latter description was the correct one - and were informed that the ones we had seen were stingrays. You know, the type that kill people (eg well-known Australian wildlife expert Steve Irwin) rather than harmless mantas.

So not only had Katy paddled with a shoal of snapper, she had waded through a school of sharks and actively chased after potentially deadly stingrays. And all this in pursuit of taking photos or videos with our new waterproof camera. I think I should get a Ph.D. in psychology, don't you?

Richard