Around Shark Bay

After a more leisurely start to the morning in our cool (in both senses of the word) cabin, we spent the day exploring the Denham/Shark Bay area more. We went to "Little Lagoon" and had a paddle in the shallow waters there and Solana and I enjoyed making a shell picture on the beach, whilst Laura searched unsuccessfully for lizards in the sand dunes. We did see some beautiful little fairy wren birds as we drove away but they were too quick to get a decent photo. More photogenic were the big emus we saw crossing the road on our way back to the town! We visited Ocean Park, formerly a pink snapper (tasty local fish) farm but now an aquarium housing some of the native species of fish and a couple of marine reptiles from the Shark Bay area. Most of the fish were in large open tanks, which was good to see and also meant that we got some good views of the marine life, including stonefish, lionfish, sharks, a couple of turtles awaiting rehabilitation to the wild and some sea snakes. Many of the species are highly venomous too. We were shown around by a marine biologist and learnt some really interesting facts about the animals we saw too. We stayed for a tasty lunch overlooking the bay, then headed back into town. We have left our own snorkels and masks at home due to lack of space, so we bought a cheap one here and, putting thoughts of all the venomous sea creatures to one side, we did some snorkelling off the jetty this afternoon. Although not the best snorkelling in the world, we did see a few species of fish and some beautiful rays that were lovely to watch. Afterwards we enjoyed a sundowner beer, watching the sunset from the rocks along the shore - a lovely way to end the day.Read more