Coral Bay: Glass Bottom Turtle Tour & Reef Snorkeling

4.85

(145 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

“That one’s called a green turtle — see the way her shell catches the sun?” our guide said, pointing through the glass bottom. I pressed my nose to the cool panel, half expecting the turtle to look up at me. Instead, she just floated there, nibbling on something invisible in that slow-motion way turtles do. The sea was so clear it almost looked fake. There was this salty breeze mixing with the smell of sunscreen and someone’s thermos coffee — honestly, I didn’t expect to feel so calm out here.

The whole thing started just a few minutes from the Coral Bay shop. We wandered down to the sand (I got distracted by a crab scuttling sideways) and climbed onto Nhanya-Ku — that’s their glass bottom boat, which is actually easier to say than it looks written down. The crew seemed to know every ripple and coral chunk out here. They pointed out parrotfish flashes and told us about how turtles feed along these parts of Ningaloo Reef all year round. At one point, Li from our group tried saying “loggerhead” in Mandarin — everyone laughed except the turtle, who didn’t care at all.

Snorkeling felt like slipping into another world. The water was a bit chilly at first but you forget that as soon as you spot a turtle gliding below or a school of tiny blue fish darting around your mask. I kept losing track of time — probably only twenty minutes but it felt longer in that dreamy underwater quiet. There were two different spots for snorkeling; both had their own mood and colors. Afterward, we sat back with tea (or coffee if you wanted), toes sandy and hair full of salt.

I still think about that moment when everything went quiet except for the soft slap of water against the hull and someone’s laugh drifting over from the bow. If you’re wondering whether these turtle tours are worth it — well, I left with wrinkly fingers and a grin that stuck around all afternoon.