There is a choice of two caravan parks in Coral Bay. By choosing the one with the playground, we are forced to make do with a non-powered site for the first night, then pack up the next morning, hitch up, check out, park outside, wait 2 hours, then check back in again, unhitch, unpack, to get a powered site for the second night. (All important since our next stop is the bush for at least a week and we need time to charge up our many devices...)
But the effort is worth it to see the kids frolic on the monkey bars and swings. So frolic they must. Continuously. No arguments about it. When? Now! Why? Don't argue! Yes, at Coral Bay all three Bihary offspring are on strictly enforced playground duty 24-7 unless we head to the beach.
Which is, of course, the only other thing to do around here and its a good thing at that! The weather is hot, the water sublime, the coral in reach, and the fish friendly. We snorkel, we swim and we hitch a ride on a glass-bottom boat. Budge and Jack prove themselves to be the snorkle kings, with Rikki still somewhat apprehensive (prefering to piggyback on daddy rather than go the full submerge) and Benji happiest cavorting back on the sand. Then, as rains sweep in, we hustle up our playground prisoners and move on.
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| Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn en route to Coral Bay, with our own Capricorn Budge (DOB Jan 16) marking the spot. When explaining to the kids that the other Tropic on the globe is Cancer, we realise that's Sam's starsign (DOB July 21), which makes the Samantha and Darren union even more special.... Until now, we only had the Bewitched reference to giggle over. |
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| Wading through the shallows to board our boat ride, the fish around our ankles. It goes without saying that the views beneath the sea when snorkeling were FAR more impressive than anything that can be conveyed here, but without an underwater camera we'll need to commit those to memory. |
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| Peering down in the glass bottom boat, elegant toes of Rikki and Sam in the foreground, shaggy heads of Benji and Jack (alongside dad) across the way. Another glimpse of the underwater wonderland - but again, a poor cousin to snorkelling it oneself. |
