The sail of the century

The peninsula hosts a few unusual animals and birds, some of which are being deliberately managed to increase their numbers. Among these is the Bilby, a small marsupial around the size of a small cat, with very large ears.
They, along with the Mallee fowl, the spinifex hopping mouse and the banded hare wallaby were very endangered and are among the native species which have been bred and released in this controlled environment, protected by a predator proof fence to keep out feral cats and dogs. Because of the protection many other species once on the brink of extinction in this area are now thriving, and will eventually be able to be removed from the endangered list.

We took a trip to see the sea life from Monkey Mia, and we were not disappointed. Our frist encounter was with a stingray, you may remember that one of these killed Steve Irwin, the naturalist and croc hunter, so they are a dangerous species.We were so lucky because the water was completely calm, the first occasion this had happened in recent weeks, and we could see clearly to the sand and seagrass below.






Shortly afterwards we were joined by a small pod of dolphins, who played for ages around the pontoons of the boat, giving us wonderful photo opportunities. It was quite thrilling to see them enjoying themselves, they are very intelligent animals.

Turtles abound in these waters, and we were fortunate enough to see quite a few, one in particular is this Loggerhead turtle, about 4ft long, which swam alongside us for quite a way. They can move quite fast when they wish to, I suppose they have to escape the jaws of sharks from time to time!
A few sharks swam past us as we travelled, among them Tiger sharks, an extremely dangerous species both to man and sea life, this area is not called Shark Bay for nothing!


And then we saw the animal that we had really come to see- the Dugong. As I said yesterday, there are around 10,000 around here, but in an area about 4000 square kms. About one eighth of the world's population live in this bay. They are also rather shy, and spend their lives grazing on seagrass, some quite deep in the water. So we were lucky to see one, however our skipper prides himself on being able to find at least one on each cruise!.

The dugong is one of two surviving species of sea cow, an air breathing mammal,and is somewhat related to the elephant rather than the whales. They can grow up to 9ft in length, and can live for over 70 years. It is entwined in the mermaid myth, it is said that they lured sailors into dangerous waters.

Because the bay was so calm we were allowed to swim off the boat at one point,indeed it was so hot that a number of people went in fully clothed, including Anne. I of course had the foresight to travel in my bathers,so I was among the first in. I was also among the first out when someone shouted "SHARK"!!!