Experience the best of Coral Bay

Coral Bay is a small settlement of caravan parks, a shop and a handful of places to stay, set on a curve of white sand on the Ningaloo Coast of Western Australia. The nearest large town is far away across red earth and low scrub, and the reef is the reason the village exists.

Ningaloo Reef, a fringing reef more than 250 kilometres long, comes so close to shore here that snorkellers can swim from the beach over coral, fish and sometimes turtles and small reef sharks. Boats take visitors out to swim with manta rays, which are seen through much of the year, and with whale sharks in the autumn and winter months. The coast is a World Heritage area, and Exmouth and Cape Range National Park lie farther north.

Fresh fish and prawns caught along the coast fill the village's few cafés and takeaway counters. Rain is rare, the skies are wide, and at night the stars are very bright. By day the water over the reef is clear enough to see the coral from the surface.