Coral Bay Ecotours

Enjoy a leisure­ly cruise in style on board our spa­cious mul­ti-lev­el lux­u­ry cata­ma­ran Kai-Aura. Sit back, relax and take in the sights and scenery as we trav­el the short jour­ney to the whales’ playground.

The Hump­back whales migrate through Coral Bay from June to Octo­ber every year. Vis­it these incred­i­ble and inquis­i­tive mam­mals in their nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment play­ing, tail-slap­ping, breach­ing, wav­ing and slap­ping mas­sive pec­toral fins, rolling and even sleep­ing! Because the local waters are a safe haven for migrat­ing whales, we reg­u­lar­ly see rest­ing moth­ers and calves as they frol­ic in the calm waters of Bate­man’s Bay. Not only can you see the icon­ic Hump­back whales, but we also often encounter many oth­er marine ani­mals like tur­tles, dol­phins, dugongs and oth­er whale species such as Minke’s, South­ern rights, even Orca’s through­out the trip.

The tour departs runs for three hours. Our friend­ly and knowl­edge­able crew will look after you through­out the tour, offer­ing infor­ma­tion about the Ninga­loo Reef and its marine life. One com­pli­men­ta­ry cham­pagne and fin­ger food is pro­vid­ed and you can also byo.

Enquire now about the 3^rd year of the Hump­back In-water Inter­ac­tion tri­al for 2018!

For the first time ever on the Ninga­loo Reef! The Depart­ment of Parks and Wildlife have grant­ed spe­cial licens­es for a select few tour com­pa­nies, includ­ing Coral Bay Ecotours! 

These new licens­es pro­vide guests the oppor­tu­ni­ty for an in water inter­ac­tion with hump­back whales began 1^st August in 2016 con­tin­ued in 2017 and now being announced it run for a 3^rd year in 2018.

Coral Bay Eco­tours are very excit­ed to be part of the con­tin­u­a­tion of this tri­al. Join us to observe hump­back whales in their nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment. If con­di­tions are safe, and we are able to do so, guests may be able to expe­ri­ence an in water inter­ac­tion with these majes­tic ani­mals as well!

Hump­back whale sea­son in Coral Bay begins at the end of June and runs through to mid Octo­ber. Dur­ing this time it is esti­mat­ed around 30,000 whales pass through Ninga­loo Reef on their annu­al migra­tion, some­times stop­ping to rest, shel­ter, and play in the calm waters of Coral Bay. 

We are deal­ing with Moth­er Nature and ani­mal behav­ior. There­fore oppor­tu­ni­ties will vary from day to day. Noth­ing in nature is guar­an­teed, how­ev­er every effort will be made to ensure you have an amaz­ing day out. For each tour there is 14 swim­ming spots available.

If and when our trained guide deems it is safe to do so, swim­ming guests will enter the water at a safe dis­tance from the ani­mals either from the side or in front of the whales path. It is then all up to the whales and each inter­ac­tion will be on their terms. Hump­back whales can be curi­ous and may approach swim­mers, or they sim­ply may pass by. An in water inter­ac­tion is defined as being in the water with­in the exclu­sive con­tact zone.

Hump­back wildlife tour guest will not par­tic­i­pate in the swim­ming with hump­back whales how­ev­er, if there is not already 14 inter­ac­tion swim­mers you may upgrade on the boat. 

Hump­back inter­ac­tion observers will par­take in every­thing except get­ting in the water.

Wild Life Swim­mer will par­take in every­thing except swim­ming with humpback

There is no refund and no repeat offered. 

This full day action packed marine eco­tour adven­ture includes wet suits and snorkel equip­ment, fan­tas­tic food (morn­ing tea, full lunch and after­noon snacks), drinks (cof­fee, tea, milo and cordial).

The high­light of this fan­tas­tic marine eco­tour is the oppor­tu­ni­ty to swim with the awe inspir­ing man­ta ray, which the pro­fes­sion­al Eco tours staff will endeav­our to deliv­er, in what has become almost a dai­ly event in Coral Bay on the Ninga­loo Reef. Why not embrace this oppor­tu­ni­ty to go snor­kel­ing in Coral Bay with one of the largest winged crea­tures that inhab­it our ocean?

Our Ulti­mate Wildlife Expe­ri­ence — an amaz­ing day on board our state-of-the-art eco tour ves­sel, Kurni-Ku, with its large upper deck view­ing area makes it per­fect for observ­ing the trop­i­cal reef and all of its inhab­i­tants. On this five to six hour adven­ture you have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to snorkel on the mag­nif­i­cent Ninga­loo coral reef, see­ing hun­dreds of types of reef fish and excit­ing aquat­ic life such as reef sharks, tur­tles, giant clams and octo­pus. The unique shal­low draft allows us to get to the very best snor­kel­ing sites that the spec­tac­u­lar Ninga­loo Reef has to offer!

Oth­er marine mam­mals that may be encoun­tered but not snorkeled with due to strict con­ser­va­tion efforts might include dol­phins, dugongs and hump­back whales (sea­son­al).

This tour in search of Man­ta Rays and oth­er marine life is offered dai­ly. While sight­ings can­not be guar­an­teed, research involve­ment allows us to expect to enjoy Man­ta Rays, Tur­tles and Reef sharks most days of the year.

Please advise if you do not want your image used from our tour on our social media.

• Spa­cious observer/​sun deck.
• Unique shal­low draft
• All weath­er pro­tec­tion, includ­ing huge shad­ed area.
• Com­fort­able cush­ioned seat­ing for all passengers.
• Easy access into the water.
• Spa­cious change room with toi­let facil­i­ties, hand basin, etc.

Eco­tour: License K. Bai­lye HQ68969CB

This full day action packed marine eco­tour adven­ture includes wet suits and snorkel equip­ment, fan­tas­tic food (morn­ing tea, full lunch and after­noon snacks), drinks (cof­fee, tea, milo and cordial).

The high­light of this fan­tas­tic marine eco­tour is the oppor­tu­ni­ty to swim with the awe inspir­ing man­ta ray, which the pro­fes­sion­al Eco tours staff will endeav­our to deliv­er, in what has become almost a dai­ly event in Coral Bay on the Ninga­loo Reef. Why not embrace this oppor­tu­ni­ty to go snor­kel­ing in Coral Bay with one of the largest winged crea­tures that inhab­it our ocean?

Our Ulti­mate Wildlife Expe­ri­ence — an amaz­ing day on board our state-of-the-art eco tour ves­sel, Kurni-Ku, with its large upper deck view­ing area makes it per­fect for observ­ing the trop­i­cal reef and all of its inhab­i­tants. On this five to six hour adven­ture you have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to snorkel on the mag­nif­i­cent Ninga­loo coral reef, see­ing hun­dreds of types of reef fish and excit­ing aquat­ic life such as reef sharks, tur­tles, giant clams and octo­pus. The unique shal­low draft allows us to get to the very best snor­kel­ing sites that the spec­tac­u­lar Ninga­loo Reef has to offer!

Oth­er marine mam­mals that may be encoun­tered but not snorkeled with due to strict con­ser­va­tion efforts might include dol­phins, dugongs and hump­back whales (sea­son­al).

This tour in search of Man­ta Rays and oth­er marine life is offered dai­ly. While sight­ings can­not be guar­an­teed, research involve­ment allows us to expect to enjoy Man­ta Rays, Tur­tles and Reef sharks most days of the year.

Please advise if you do not want your image used from our tour on our social media.

• Spa­cious observer/​sun deck.
• Unique shal­low draft
• All weath­er pro­tec­tion, includ­ing huge shad­ed area.
• Com­fort­able cush­ioned seat­ing for all passengers.
• Easy access into the water.
• Spa­cious change room with toi­let facil­i­ties, hand basin, etc.

Eco­tour: License K. Bai­lye HQ68969CB

This full day action packed marine eco­tour adven­ture includes wet suits and snorkel equip­ment, fan­tas­tic food (morn­ing tea, full lunch and after­noon snacks), drinks (cof­fee, tea, milo and cordial).

The high­light of this fan­tas­tic marine eco­tour is the oppor­tu­ni­ty to swim with the awe inspir­ing man­ta ray, which the pro­fes­sion­al Eco tours staff will endeav­our to deliv­er, in what has become almost a dai­ly event in Coral Bay on the Ninga­loo Reef. Why not embrace this oppor­tu­ni­ty to go snor­kel­ing in Coral Bay with one of the largest winged crea­tures that inhab­it our ocean?

Our Ulti­mate Wildlife Expe­ri­ence — an amaz­ing day on board our state-of-the-art eco tour ves­sel, Kurni-Ku, with its large upper deck view­ing area makes it per­fect for observ­ing the trop­i­cal reef and all of its inhab­i­tants. On this five to six hour adven­ture you have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to snorkel on the mag­nif­i­cent Ninga­loo coral reef, see­ing hun­dreds of types of reef fish and excit­ing aquat­ic life such as reef sharks, tur­tles, giant clams and octo­pus. The unique shal­low draft allows us to get to the very best snor­kel­ing sites that the spec­tac­u­lar Ninga­loo Reef has to offer!

Oth­er marine mam­mals that may be encoun­tered but not snorkeled with due to strict con­ser­va­tion efforts might include dol­phins, dugongs and hump­back whales (sea­son­al).

This tour in search of Man­ta Rays and oth­er marine life is offered dai­ly. While sight­ings can­not be guar­an­teed, research involve­ment allows us to expect to enjoy Man­ta Rays, Tur­tles and Reef sharks most days of the year.

Please advise if you do not want your image used from our tour on our social media.

• Spa­cious observer/​sun deck.
• Unique shal­low draft
• All weath­er pro­tec­tion, includ­ing huge shad­ed area.
• Com­fort­able cush­ioned seat­ing for all passengers.
• Easy access into the water.
• Spa­cious change room with toi­let facil­i­ties, hand basin, etc.

Eco­tour: License K. Bai­lye HQ68969CB

This full day action packed marine eco­tour adven­ture includes wet suits and snorkel equip­ment, fan­tas­tic food (morn­ing tea, full lunch and after­noon snacks), drinks (cof­fee, tea, milo and cordial).

The high­light of this fan­tas­tic marine eco­tour is the oppor­tu­ni­ty to swim with the awe inspir­ing man­ta ray, which the pro­fes­sion­al Eco tours staff will endeav­our to deliv­er, in what has become almost a dai­ly event in Coral Bay on the Ninga­loo Reef. Why not embrace this oppor­tu­ni­ty to go snor­kel­ing in Coral Bay with one of the largest winged crea­tures that inhab­it our ocean?

Our Ulti­mate Wildlife Expe­ri­ence — an amaz­ing day on board our state-of-the-art eco tour ves­sel, Kurni-Ku, with its large upper deck view­ing area makes it per­fect for observ­ing the trop­i­cal reef and all of its inhab­i­tants. On this five to six hour adven­ture you have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to snorkel on the mag­nif­i­cent Ninga­loo coral reef, see­ing hun­dreds of types of reef fish and excit­ing aquat­ic life such as reef sharks, tur­tles, giant clams and octo­pus. The unique shal­low draft allows us to get to the very best snor­kel­ing sites that the spec­tac­u­lar Ninga­loo Reef has to offer!

Oth­er marine mam­mals that may be encoun­tered but not snorkeled with due to strict con­ser­va­tion efforts might include dol­phins, dugongs and hump­back whales (sea­son­al).

This tour in search of Man­ta Rays and oth­er marine life is offered dai­ly. While sight­ings can­not be guar­an­teed, research involve­ment allows us to expect to enjoy Man­ta Rays, Tur­tles and Reef sharks most days of the year.

Please advise if you do not want your image used from our tour on our social media.

• Spa­cious observer/​sun deck.
• Unique shal­low draft
• All weath­er pro­tec­tion, includ­ing huge shad­ed area.
• Com­fort­able cush­ioned seat­ing for all passengers.
• Easy access into the water.
• Spa­cious change room with toi­let facil­i­ties, hand basin, etc.

Eco­tour: License K. Bai­lye HQ68969CB

Join our 8 to 9 hour Whale Shark Safari aboard Kai – Aura. Our ves­sel is designed for your com­fort with a large area of seat­ing and stand­ing both down­stairs and upstairs, and a 360-degree view from the wheel­house. It is the per­fect way to expe­ri­ence one of the few places in the world that these big beau­ti­ful whale sharks
choose to visit.

Your tour begins at 7:30 am at the Coral Bay Eco­tours office, fol­lowed by a short bus trans­fer to the jet­ty to board the ves­sel. Then we head out for your first reef snorkel expe­ri­ence in the beau­ti­ful coral gar­dens, where you may encounter numer­ous fish, reef sharks, and oth­er marine species.

After morn­ing tea, we begin our jour­ney to the out­er reef. By this time our spot­ter plane is already search­ing for our whale sharks and inform­ing us of any oth­er excit­ing marine life spot­ted along the way! We will do our best to allow you to expe­ri­ence as much wildlife as pos­si­ble dur­ing our tour. Once our spot­ter plane has found a whale shark, our boat will make its way there. Guests will be split into 2 groups of 10 and take turns to swim with the whale shark. To ensure that we don’t dis­turb its nat­ur­al habits, we are allowed a max­i­mum one hour of swim­ming time with the whale shark.

We stop along the way home for a sec­ond reef snorkel at a dif­fer­ent site. To fin­ish the day, we cel­e­brate with a glass of cham­pagne and fruit platter.

Our pho­tog­ra­ph­er will be tak­ing pho­tos and/​or video footage of your day; avail­able for pur­chase on a USB for an addi­tion­al cost at the end of the tour.

We Pro­vide: A full buf­fet lunch, morn­ing and after­noon tea, all snorkel equip­ment includ­ing long wet­suits, fresh drink­ing water, tea, cof­fee, sun­screen and toilet.

What you need to bring: Tow­el, hat, sun­screen, swim­suit, water bot­tle, warm clothing.

Please note: Although every effort is made to pro­vide you with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to see and inter­act with the wildlife, we can­not guar­an­tee nature. 

Whale Shark Tour: License K. Bai­lye HQ69375WSC

If company cancels tour for whatever reason a full refund is given.

In the event of tour cancellation by the passenger the following terms and conditions apply:

• Passenger provides more than 4 days' notice - 25% of total tour cost applies.

• Passenger Provides less than 4 days' notice - 100% of total tour cost applies