On Wednesday of last week I departed Perth on a 7 day tour of the west coast to Exmouth and back. On the third day the trip got really interesting. Waking early in the morning I showered, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, the usual things that all you lot do back at home but instead of getting dressed in a suit or a uniform to head to work I put on my shorts and bright red surfing t-shirt and walked to the beach at Monkey Mia. Wait, it gets even better. I wasn't going to the beach for a swim or to sunbathe but to feed wild dolphins, Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins to be precise!
In the sixties or seventies, I forget which, a local began feeding dolphins from the shore and from that grew a large resort and 3 public feedings in the morning. The staff at the resort only provide food for the adult females and give them between 25-35% of their daily food needs so that they do not loose their hunting skills. The area is also used for studying dolphin behaviour. The daily procedure is as follows, when the dolphins wander near the shore everyone gets in for a paddle, no swimming or touching allowed, whilst a staff member gives a talk on the dolphins and the work done at Monkey Mia. When it is feeding time all but the staff leave the water and the staff remaining pick people out of the audience to hand feed the dolphins. Have I mentioned that I was one of those that was picked.
Above and below; the dolphins come in for a swim before feeding time.
Below, I paddled out into the water and slid the fish into the dolphin's mouth, careful not to let it bite my hand off.
You're now thinking that can't be topped, that must be his highlight. You're wrong. The highlight was the next day in Coral Bay. Again I awoke early and headed to the beach this time though to jump on a boat and head out into Ningaloo Reef. Ningaloo is the worlds largest fringing reef, fringing means that the coral metres or less away from the shore. In comparison the more well known Great Barrier Reef over on the East Coast is about 30km off shore. The tour I went on was a 5hr snorkel with Manta Rays tour. It was excellent, amazing, exhilarating, fascinating and a few more other 'ing's. Swimming with the Manta Rays was better than I ever expected, I didn't know what to expect really, not knowing much about these powerful creatures. For the uneducated, like I was, Mantas have wing spans of over 4m, can swim up to 65kmph for short bursts and are not true rays; they do not have a barb on their tail and are in fact sharks. Harmless, toothless, plankton eating sharks. Mantas are normally solitary creatures but we were lucky as the spotter plane found us one female being chased by three males in some sort of mating ritual. I got around 20-30 minutes in the water made up of two swims 10-15min each but time means very little when your following the Mantas. When in the water half of my mind was concentrating on keeping up with them, especially as they barely look like they are putting any effort in and so I did't want to either, and the other half was in a permanent state of wonder and amazement.
The next snorkel was a guided snorkel to a shark cleaning station, where there are normally reef sharks. Reef sharks are relatively harmless creatures seemingly with a motto 'don't annoy us we won't harm you.' At cleaning stations small fish eat bacteria of the sharks and thus clean them, therefore the sharks are not there to feed so again I was reassured these sharks were safe. It was again pretty spectacular but they were further under the water and so not very clear to see.
The next snorkel was a guided snorkel to a shark cleaning station, where there are normally reef sharks. Reef sharks are relatively harmless creatures seemingly with a motto 'don't annoy us we won't harm you.' At cleaning stations small fish eat bacteria of the sharks and thus clean them, therefore the sharks are not there to feed so again I was reassured these sharks were safe. It was again pretty spectacular but they were further under the water and so not very clear to see.
My third and final snorkel was a half hour snorkel at an area known as the maze, named such because the coral is very shallow, sometimes centimetres off breaking the surface, with trenches of deeper sand acing like a maze around the coral. We were allowed to swim where ever we liked in this maze, where we hoped to find a turtle to swim with. We did. Turtles have no objections to you swimming along with them as long as you give them a clear path ahead of them so they can swim where ever they like. This was a different, but no less amazing, experience as swimming with the Manta Rays. The turtle was big, probably around a metre in length, maybe a little bit less and so very graceful. Looking peaceful, wise, and mature the turtle gracefully swam around the shallow coral as the group followed. When following the turtle the physical exertion was minimal and I was able to fully concrete on the experience. I took some underwater photos but cannot show you as they aren't digital. I did however purchase a CD from the tour company so when that arrives at home my dear mum might email me some to post. If my writing has failed to make you jealous then the photos certainly will. Hopefully these above water pictures of the Manta Rays I swam with will give you a taste of what I did.
Above, the Manta Rays swim nearer the surface and close to the boat after we had finished snorkeling with them. You can see the large female being followed by three males.
On the fifth day of my tour we were up in Exmouth the top of Ningaloo Reef, Coral Bay being the start, for more snorkeling at nearby Turquoise Bay. The coral up at the top of the reef was more colourful and the snorkel was again amazing. On this swim the current was strong and so I followed it along, seeing so many fish that were blue, purple, yellow, green and most were a mixture of those colours and more.
With those two days of snorkeling, Ningaloo Reef has now become my favourite place in Australia. I would love to come back here again and spend a couple of weeks just swimming and snorkeling, maybe even volunteering on various ecological programs. The reef certainly puts aquariums in a new light, there really is nothing like the experience wildlife in the wild, especially when it so exotic.
With those two days of snorkeling, Ningaloo Reef has now become my favourite place in Australia. I would love to come back here again and spend a couple of weeks just swimming and snorkeling, maybe even volunteering on various ecological programs. The reef certainly puts aquariums in a new light, there really is nothing like the experience wildlife in the wild, especially when it so exotic.
