Ningaloo Station
Departing Coral Bay with a decent south easterly, we make our way north, heading for the inside passage which will take us to Point Cloates. The route is fairly straight forward, although there are a couple of shallow sections to navigate through. Initially the ocean is quite rough, with the usual combination of wind, swell and tide all combining to make things messy!!
As usual the lure goes out the back and before long it goes off with a bang…. line is whizzing out and as soon as some tension is put on, the line breaks - much to Pete’s disappointment. Another lure bites the dust!!!
As we approach Point Cloates, we come across a number of whales on the inside of the reef who appear to be having some time out from their travels. We have a close encounter with a young calf and mother and watch the calf jumping and playing around before they head for the channel that leads out from behind the reef. Something we have come to realise is that the whales have an uncanny sense of navigation, to the point that they will move out of your way whilst you pass, but then return exactly to the route they were on - hence the ‘whale highway.’
Up on the hill ahead we can see the old Point Cloates lighthouse, a prominent landmark that sits high, just behind the Ningaloo Station homestead. It has been long replaced by the modernised version - just a plain old strobe light atop a metal tower - not quite the same rustic charm. But more on that lighthouse later… for now the fun starts as we poke our way through the shallows of Point Cloates and north into Ningaloo Station.
When we were looking for a cruising yacht, one of the appeals of a catamaran was the smaller draft that they have - in other words, they draw less water and can therefore get into places that a traditional monohull yacht can’t. Singularity draws about 1.1 metres, as opposed to a monohull of similar length - probably about 2 to 2.2 metres. The other advantage of a cat is our maneuverability. Because we have two engines, we can use those to effectively steer the boat. Simply, by putting one engine in forward and one in reverse, we can literally turn the boat on itself. Again, a monohull generally only has one engine, so the maneuverability is much less. Many have a bow thruster in the bow in order to assist in turning the boat. All of these attributes - coupled with a good set of polarised sunglasses and some nerves of steel - were about to be put into play.
Point Cloates is a beautiful anchorage with crystal clear water and a mix of sand bottom and coral. However we weren’t interested in the anchorage - in fact we were going through it and straight to the point where we were going to nudge our way around the corner. We knew it could be done - but we were also at the back end of a rather large low tide - so not ideal. However, onwards we went with Nicky standing on the trampoline at the front of the boat and Pete perched over the steering wheel, speed nice and slow as we identified coral bommies and did our best to go around them. We had three big sections of coral to contend with at the start and then we needed to try and find the best line down the sandbars, which are always moving over time. The conditions were idyllic - light offshore breeze and full sun; and as for the water visibility - well simply amazing. So clear and we had turtles popping up everywhere for a look. Oh, and in case you’re wondering…. zero filters have been used in these photos. This is actually what it looked like!
Before long, we had Blue Yonder in sight and after some quick conferring on the radio, we confirmed our route was good and continued on. This whole area inside the reef is unsurveyed - and mainly because it is almost all sand - but also it is not visited by many vessels, so I guess no real requirement. Our planned anchorage was just off the old Ningaloo Shearing shed and to get there we needed to navigate around a few sand bars and actually go past it before turning and heading back towards the shore. In no time, we had arrived and set about dropping the anchor. No people (except for our friends on Blue Yonder), crystal clear water, wildlife in abundance…think we might have found paradise?
We have an amazing few days in this place…. exploratory walks up to the old lighthouse and lighthouse keeper house, amazing drift snorkels with turtles in aquarium like conditions, drinks and dinners with Nic and Julia on Blue Yonder. We were later joined by Liz and Bernie on their cat Afterglow II. They sailed around Pt Cloates whilst we were up exploring the lighthouse, so we could see them heading our way from a long way off in the distance. Pretty cool!
Conditions look right, so we move out to just inside the reef at a location called Frazer Island. This used to be a large sand island that even included a navigation light, however it was run into by a large ship during a storm and then much of the sand washed away, leaving only the ruins of the light tower and the remain of the ship. With light winds and low swell forecast, we nudge our way out through the sand bars before dropping anchor about a mile inside the wrecks. Once settled, we jump in bob and go for a drift snorkel out behind the wreck. We have left it a little late so the tide is a bit low but we are blown away by how good it is with aquarium like conditions and an amazing array of sea life. We do a couple of dives and on the last we continue right over to, and snorkel around, the remains of the old ship and light tower. Amazing!
One of the more quirky aspects of this location is that at low tide a couple of sand cays appear, probably remnants of what was once Frazer Island. They are cool - about the size of a tennis court and with a few small waves breaking at one end. We get the opportunity to hang out and then Pete calls a Hawaiian beach party for the next afternoon. Singularity, Blue Yonder and Afterglow II all don their best Hawaiian outfits and meet up for a couple of beach games and some general frivolity. Who said cruising life was lonely and boring??
We are keen for more exploration and some surf, so we decide to head north to South Lefroy, which is located just around the corner and just south of Point Billie. An early morning departure sees us head north into Norwegian Bay and then out through the passage into the open ocean. Any passage through the reef at Ningaloo has you on high alert and with a moderate swell we are keeping a close eye on the surf rolling in on each side of the passage as we pass through.
It is only about 5 miles to our next destination and another passage through the reef…..
