If the teeming crush of Exmouth's 2400 souls sounds too much to bear, Coral Bay is the sensible alternative. Smaller, quieter and less developed, it also boasts a higher success rate for sightings of the creature everyone comes to Ningaloo to see - the whale shark.
While Coral Bay appears exposed to the Indian Ocean, in reality it's sheltered by the extensive fringing reef. This may not be proof against the extreme storms that sometimes strike this, Australia's most cyclone-prone stretch of coast, but in general the conditions are ideal for swimming and diving in Ningaloo's waters. Originally called Maud's Landing (after the schooner that made landfall here in 1884), the town once served the local pastoralists with a jetty, tramway and woolshed to ease the passage of goods. Despite its plum position opposite Australia's only fringing (near-shore) reef, it has so far escaped the developers' worst ravages.
