Cape Peron and Dugongs

The world heritage site of Cape Peron, south West of Carnavon WA has a large area of seagrass. The largest living organism on earth is the seagrass growing in Shark Bay which stretches some hundreds of kilometers. Such an amazing plant. It is one organism that has reproduced itself across a vast distance. It is the home of the dugong.

The storm which hit yesterday has forced the captain to change our itinerary and we are now sheltered in the relatively calm waters of Shark Bay. Again we can see more of the spectacular geology of the area. The red sand cliffs strongly contrast against the blue of the sea and the white of the beach sand below. It looks so desolate and rugged. By zodiac we move gently through the seagrass. Although this is quite a bright green in color from the zodiac it looks like a dark shadow. We are here not so much to look at seagrass however but to see dugongs if possible, a shy and elusive animal that feeds almost exclusively on the seagrass. It is not very long before our eagle eyed naturalist guide sees a dugong. Soon we see more including a mother and calf. As they come to the surface to breathe we see a light grey pink coloured back. We are so fortunate, they are a threatened species and not easy to find. It is exciting, I was not thinking we would be so lucky.

Next stop is the beach and a walk. I didn't bring a walking pole which was silly so I am reluctant to tackle the walk to the top as the sand is slippery. Bob has no qualms. There is a walk along the ridge to a lookout. I walk along the edge of the water looking at the vegetation. It isn't apparent from the ship just how many different plants there are here. This is a hot, dry climate yet small and medium sized plants cling to these sand dunes making it an interesting walk. In particular I am looking for seagrass recently washed ashore. There is evidence of dried seagrass on the beach, brown long ribbons, relatively thin. I would like to see something that gives me a better idea of what it really looks like. I find some I think is seagrass and confirm this with one of the naturalists. It is not quite what I was expecting because some of it looks like seaweed, not thin ribbons as I had seen dried on the beach.

After yesterday it was so nice to have a relatively calm, sunny day and an uneventful zodiac ride. At the briefing we were told however that the weather had not really improved and the ship would reposition again to Dirk Hartog Island and take shelter for the night.もっと詳しく