Monday, 15 June 2026
Today we went on a full day marine safari with Shark Bay Eco Tours. We drove back across to Denham to meet the boat at the commercial jetty at 7.45am. We had a bit of a false start heading to the BIG Eco Tours boat that we could see tied up at the jetty. Nope, wrong boat, we needed to be at the small Eco Tours boat, which was tied up at the jetty on the other side of the boat ramp.
We climbed aboard the Woomerangee, together with seven other tourists keen to spend an unforgettable day journeying through the pristine Shark Bay Marine Park. Our skipper, Hayden, and snorkelling guide, Lily, introduced themselves and we were underway. This body of water looked so small in our atlas, but it took us nearly an hour to motor across to the seagrass meadows on the other side, to start looking for dugongs.
The sea was choppy (very choppy!) and we had Hayden telling us that it would be better for seeing dugongs, as they have to come up higher out of the water to take breaths when it is choppy. Dugongs have two nostrils, rather than a single blowhole like a dolphin, so they need to get their nose up and well out of the water to take a breath, before diving to feed on the seabed again. Soon we were lucky enough to get glimpses of several dugongs, in fact, as many as six or seven, which was exciting. Hayden and Lily said we were very lucky to see this number surfacing as a group. Whether or not we have any good photos? … we saw these elusive sea mammals this morning. Tick.
Next we motored around the end of Dirk Hartog Island, past a massive osprey nest which they believe dates back to Dirk Hartog’s day, as it matches the location of a nest that he recorded in 1616! Osprey nests are used by successive generation of ospreys, with each generation adding materials to the nest. Hayden told us that this particular nest has not been used for the last two years and this is likely due to something coming up just around the corner … a sea eagle nest right beside it. While Ospreys eat exclusively sea food, sea eagles eat EVERYTHING, including osprey eggs. So, the sea eagles have moved in and the ospreys appear to have abandoned this nest.
We landed on Dirk Hartog Island and took a short walk along the beach to a point where Lily was going to tell us a little about it’s history. We just arrived at that point and … the heavens opened. Dang, the second time in a week that we have been rained on! Lily suggested that we return to the boat and she would tell us the history back on board. The shower passed as quickly as it arrived, so we settled for sheltering out of the wind behind a bush while Lily gave us our short history lesson.
Briefly, Dirk Hartog came ashore on the 25th of October 1616 and left a pewter plate describing his ship’s arrival and voyage. He was heading for Batavia (Indonesia) but slightly miscalculated and ended up on the western coast of Australia. The island was later settled by pastoralists who grazed sheep and goats. They also brought with them domestic cats. The sheep and goats decimated the vegetation and the cats ate all the small mammals that inhabited the island. In 2009 the Wardle Family, that owned the pastoral lease since 1968, sold the majority of the island – now little more than a barren wasteland – to the government and the traditional owners.
The government and the traditional owners spent years removing the sheep and goats (about 24,000 of them) and cats (roughly 11,000 of those!) then revegetating the island, before reintroducing small mammals. These populations are now vigorous enough that there is a plan to soon release a native predator (quolls) to keep the restored ecosystem in balance. I think Lily said that this is one of the largest islands ever to have been rehabilitated in this way.
We returned to the boat and started heading for Steep Point, the westernmost point of mainland Australia. There is a 4WD track to Steep Point, and even a barge to take you and your 4WD across to Dirk Hartog Island, for even more 4WD tracks, but that is hours of four wheel driving and big bucks ($800 return) to travel on the barge. Besides which the 4WD track on the mainland is currently closed. MUCH easier to see Steep Point from the water … even in a big swell. Lily took our photos with Steep Point behind us, while we held a sign saying that we were at Mainland Australia’s most westerly point. We had to smile for the first one and then scream with fear for the second. That was to replicate the facial effigy eroded into the Steep Point cliff, which is known by locals as The Screaming Dutchman, ha, ha.
And then it was time for some snorkelling. It was a bit cooler today than it was last Wednesday when we swam with the whale sharks but, hey, probably not going to be here again. Snorkelling over coral reefs was not as exhausting as swimming with the whales sharks. The coral doesn’t move! It was still quite energetic though, and I didn’t have a flotation vest today. I managed to get by with a pool noodle and some assistance from Lily and her ‘banana’ which was a big yellow lifeguard’s flotation device.
We snorkelled first around Kells Rock, which was challenging with a strong current running. In fact, we did it in two halves, with Lily having Hayden pick us up half way around to put us back in the water at the top of the current, so we hardly had to work at all as we drifted past the other half of the rock. Our next stop was at the Cabbage Patch, which was just how it sounds, coral that looked very like cabbages. We were also lucky to see a sea turtle here. Our final stop was at Blackies, which is a nursery area for black snapper, and also features a narrow band of purple coral. We startled two stingrays that hastily swam away and then observed another hiding in the sand beneath us. There were also giant clams on the seabed, sea cucumbers aplenty and loads of fish in many different sizes and colours.
Back onto the boat to make ourselves wraps for lunch from a vast array of ingredients, while we cruised along in hope of sighting sharks and/or dolphins, to round out the Shark Bay Big 5. It wasn’t to be though, and soon we reached the time where we had to motor back across the bay to Denham. Another very active day in the company of John, Talia, Clive (and his mate whose name I did not catch), Antony, Alicia and Kimmy. Special thanks to Kimmy who chose not to snorkel and very kindly took photos for us.
We’d been invited for a steak dinner tonight with Ross and Sharon, so Bernie wanted to take a bottle of red to go with. We made our way over to Australia’s westernmost pub, the Shark Bay Hotel. I guess we purchased the bottle of Pepperjack at Australia’s westernmost Bottle-O.
I was very cold from being in the water and then out on the water in wet togs, so I made use of the truck’s seat heater on the way back to Monkey Mia. Back in our cabin I enjoyed a very welcome hot shower, before putting on some warm, dry clothes. Then it was time to head off to the resort’s Boughshed Restaurant for sunset beers/cocktails/mocktails with Ross and Sharon. Would you believe it? Sunset was a bust again.
Steps: 11,844 (7.93kms) Hmmn, I think that’s down to the boat bouncing over the waves??!
