Conditions were quite good for our day out on the water at Coral Bay. We did the Reef Explorer tour on the Coral Breeze catamaran. 14 of us gathered at the office, and were brought by bus down to the wharf and we met Col the skipper, Cheryl the deckhand, and her daughter Summer. There was a huge groper fish under the wharf. We all went aboard, and took off - the wind was quite fickle, so it was a bit tricky for Col to set the sails up for us to glide out to the first snorkelling spot. It was beautiful going through the turquoise water with the coral reef in various places, and lots of fish around, and also the odd turtle to spot.

We arrived at the first spot, and everyone got geared up, and poured into the water. The water was cool, and the swell was fine, so everyone snorkelled around for about 30 minutes finding crabs, clams, fish, etc. When we got back on the catamaran, there was a yummy sausage sizzle/veggie rissole lunch waiting so we dried off, and made ourselves comfy with lunch and tea/water, etc. Col caused a bit of a fish feeding frenzy when he threw some of the lunch leftovers into the water! During our journey to the 2nd snorkel spot, Col brought out the boom net, and Renee, Eamon and Summer had a great time at the back of the boat on their tummies and backs being dragged along the water in the netting.

The 2nd snorkelling spot was further out from shore, so it was windier, with stronger currents. Col suggested we go through 'the maze' to see the best coral, fish, etc so we followed Cheryl as she's a local. Dad and Renee were fine getting out there, but Eamon was struggling so he and Mum took a bit longer, be finally made it to the area where there was a large shelf with lots of interesting marine animals and coral. It was then a relaxing drift with the current back towards the boat. Everyone was pretty tired back on the boat, so it was a quiet sail back to the wharf after more than 4 hours on the water. We spotted an eagle ray on the way back, and the groper was still at the wharf.

Peta drove everyone back to town from the boat ramp, and while Dad met the RACV guy to have a look at the car, Mum, Renee & Eamon went down to main beach to check out the daily fish feeding. Well, what an experience - about 100 people were in the shallow water and just at the drop off into deeper water, there were about 100 snapper fish winding in and out of everyone's legs trying to get to the food being thrown into the water. So we joined the throng and Renee & Eamon got some food and fed it to the fish - their mouths were coming out of the water, and Mum was thinking they would make a lovely dinner - we could have just picked them up out of the water, they were so placid. When the food ran out, the fish simply swam away.

Back at the van we relaxed into the evening with a guy called 'Outback Paddy' doing a show down the road for background music. We ate roast pork and vegies for dinner and had an early night after a big day out. Oh, and the RACV guy put the car up on his hoist and tightened the CV joint rubber boot band, so we should be right to get to Carnarvon tomorrow!