Neon Garden



I felt like Ariel from The Little Mermaid this weekend. I discovered an extensive underwater world complete with different sized buildings, popular haunts for catching up with friends and places to chow down. The coral gardens beneath the water in Coral Bay are truly spectacular. Coral of every different shape, size and colour pack the seabed and rise up like a watery urban jungle. There are massive footstool-shaped coral that tower right to the surface of the water and offer a perfect resting spot for fish to congregate and mingle. There are luminous yellow ‘bushes’, with hundreds of miniature branches that prove to be haute cuisine for marine life – they go crazy for the stuff. There are huge rose-like coral, complete with delicate petals like the intricate vegetable carving Asian chefs are famous for. Electric blue, deep purple, dazzling white, fluorescent yellow, soft green, striking orange – the colours were so intense they popped, begging to be gazed at admiringly. And I did. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.


And best of all? You can swim out to it from the beach. No taking an hour’s boat trip with dozens of other people, then bumping into them as you all snorkel over the same area of reef for twenty minutes before being ordered back onto the boat. In fact, we were the only ones that had swum out to that part of the reef – other snorkelers had stayed near the shore, swimming over the less spectacular coral. I felt privy to a special underwater world that many never get to see. A little mermaid swimming amongst a city of neon colours and architectural sculptures. And only once or twice feeling panicky when sure that a shoal of massive bluebone was following me, intent on cornering me and biting away at my flesh like a pack of piranhas. I definitely shouldn’t have watched Piranha 3 so recently. Despite my fear of being nibbled to death, it was a truly awesome experience. Coral Bay, one day I will be back.