Just one day earlier and the last whaleshark tour of the season would have been departed with us on board. The summer months, though, drive the biggest fish of the ocean away from the Ningaloo reef, the biggest fringing reef in the world, which watches closely over the coast of Exmouth and the Cape Range National Park. Here, the corals look more like colourful rocks, bulky, smooth and rigid. But still attracting all kinds of fish. Rainbow-coloured parrotfish with their beak-like mouth munch happily on the corals, a sound travelling surprisingly far underwater. Marine-blue angelfish hide wearily in small caves. Schools of lemony butterflyfish scurry around excitedly. And then a shark. A big grey one swims swiftly and seemingly without recognition of the nearby human visitor as if it had somewhere urgently to be. Though not known for violence or aggression its presence so close, and clear dominance over the underwater world still incites fear in most. As quickly as it shows up, it is gone again from the short field of vision and instead a green sea turtle floats calmly around, similarly unimpressed by the freak with the snorkel, breathing loudly their Darth-Vader impression. Closer to the beach where the corals stop, the marine life doesn’t, and attention is still required to avoid stepping on a stingray, the blue-spotted orange one, or the large grey one, or the small shovelfish. They all have stings or barbs, that if threatened can definitely pierce a leg and depending on the species release some venom. And that’s what Exmouth is famous for after all. Not directly the town itself, which really hasn’t much to offer apart from a sweet ice cream shop and couples of Emus pacing curiously over the campground, but instead Cape Range National Park, covering the west coast of the Exmouth peninsula. There the waters turn turquoise and so pleasing to watch, full with corals and fish and turtles. So many turtles indeed, they established an observatory, counting them and making sure their favourite breeding and nesting grounds remain undisturbed. And although we missed the whalesharks, we came just in time for the turtle nesting season to start and thus catch a look at one of the beautiful creatures digging one at night. To lay her eggs and then cover them up. Eggs, of which just 0.1% make it to adulthood. Incredibly few. Three turtle species come here to breed. Their heads popping out of the choppy waters everywhere and their tracks can be seen all along the sandy beaches. Like tire marks starting in the dunes and ending in the water.