Shark Bay

My next stop was Shark Bay. I’d been on the way up, but just for a quick overnight and was excited to spend a bit more time exploring it. The first day I drove to Denham and walked in the lagoon and enjoyed the sun. That night I camped in a campground right on the beach. There were only 3 other campers there and they were far away so it made for a really lovely quiet night. There was barely any moon and the stars reflected on the ocean were lovely. 

The next morning I woke up really early and drove to Monkey Mia (pronounced Monkey Maya). It’s a conservation reserve famous for friendly dolphins. The shallow bay makes the area safe from predators and a many generations of dolphins have hunted the beaches in the area. In the 80s people used to come here and pet and feed the dolphins, but it began to negatively impact the animals and now parks and wildlife have developed a plan to balance people’s desire to see the animals up close with the autonomy and conservation of the dolphins.

How it works now: one small section of the beach is designated the ‘dolphin encounter zone’ between 7:45am and noon people have an opportunity to enter this area with the dolphins if the dolphins chose. If the dolphins swim into the area and lay on their side people are allowed in the water, just a few feet, for 20 minutes (or until the dolphins leave). After 20 minutes people from parks and wildlife will give 3 fish to certain dolphins (recent mothers and their calves). They don’t give them enough fish to support them not hunting, just enough to supplement their diet. After that there is a 10 minute break before people are allowed back in the water. This can only happen 3 times a day. 

Anyway, I got there at 7:30 and there was quite a crowd of expectant people hoping to encounter the dolphins. And we saw maybe 2 dozen dolphins swimming offshore. We milled along the dock and beach waiting for the dolphins to come. At 7:45 people weee very excited. Children screamed and played. People talked excitedly. You could feel the excitement. This waned however by 8:30, and still no dolphins had come close. The crowd of 50 or so people had fluctuated slowly waning as time went on. Families with small children being the first gone. Many of us wandered for a coffee and I made a quick ramen breakfast while we waited. I chatted with other travelers. A woman who had meant to come 40 years ago, but her abusive (now) ex husband has told her she couldn’t go and was now liberating herself to do the things she wanted to when she was young. A Dutch backpacker who was here with friends, who didn’t want to see the dolphins. Gray nomads on their first trip around the country. Just before 9 a group of 6 dolphins entered the encounter area and people stampeded to the edge to see if we would be allowed in. The dolphins didn’t stay long or rest on their side though and after that many of the remaining people wandered off. At 9:30 they finally came to stay! We got to get in the water and see the dolphins from only a few feet away. It was so cool. We had 3 generations of dolphins. 2 sisters their 3 daughters and their daughters 2 children. One less than 4 months old. They were playful and cute and such a joy. The baby when offered a fish, decided that yellowfin was just not good enough and swam off to try to catch one of his own, unsuccessful he came back and decided yellowfin would do. It was fun to watch. 

After the dolphins I decided to rent a kayak and head onto the water for a bit. As I grabbed the kayak, a huge storm came and I decided to sit and wait for it to pass. I chatted with the rental guy and he started telling me about all the locals flora. He gave me some great suggestions of places to go in the afternoon after my kayak! 

I finally hit the water and paddled for a few hours. It was smooth and sunny with a perfectly light breeze. Perfect kayaking weather until the end when the wind picked up. 

As I headed out I checked out the hiking spots suggested and stopped at shell beach. A beach where the entire ground cover is shell. I read in some places the shells are 9 meters deep! The shells are small and abundant because this portion of the bay is so shallow and long that there are no predators for the small creatures. It’s also incredibly saline making it difficult for anything else to survive. 

I also stopped at Hamelin Bay to see the stromatolites. The oldest living lifeform on the planet. They are living rocks formed by Cyanobacteria and sediment they bind. Such a cool tho g to see. Even if they just kinda look like rocks.