Shark Bay - true to its name

It was 5 am, the wind was howling and the sky was pitch black.  I carefully motored up to the mooring ball in Turtle Bay, on which we had taken refuge during the night's 30 knot winds.   S2ee freed us from the giant mooring line (think 20 cm diameter rope) and I turned the boat around, carefully following our previous day's incoming track on the chart plotter to avoid the coral bombies that surrounded us.  Once free of the Island, I motoring into the wind and bumpy seas, raising the main sail from the safety of the back deck.  On the front deck, S2ee, firmly harnessed and tied on to the boat, set up the reefing lines before we turned to sail north.   That was the stressful and very uncomfortable (and a tad dangerous) start of our 32 hour passage from the Abrolhos Islands to Shark Bay. We vowed we would never do that again!

Our early morning start was necessitated by the need to enter the passage into Shark Bay, between Steep Point and Dirk Hartog Island, on an incoming or ebb tide.  Entering by about 11 am was essential to avoid an outgoing tide, and potential standing waves set up by the tide against incoming swell.   We got there in time, and motoring easily through the entrance, admiring the cliffs of Steep Point, into the aptly named Shelter Bay. 

Provide shelter it absolutely did.   Shelter Bay was everything the Abrolhos was not - calm, protected, and with warm and clear aqua water.   As I do every time we anchor, I immediately jumped into the water, both as a refreshing end to the passage, and more importantly, to check that the anchor was well set.   It was divine!

But it was not long after leaving the water that S2ee called me to look over the side of the boat at the 3 metre tiger shark swimming past. Aghhh....    It disappared for a while, then reappeared as we were motoring to the beach in the Guppy - S2ee had just jumped in the thigh deep water to pull us to the beach when it approached - S2ee almost trod water to get back into the Guppy.   

All became clear later that afternoon when a fishing charter boat pulled into the bay and started cleaning their catch on the back deck.  The operators kindly motored over to us in their tender to warn us not to swim - they had 3 bull sharks and a tiger shark circling their boat.  Any wonder!

We did need to get back into the water the next day to check the propellors and clean out some weed - S2ee wore my shark shield (his was flat!) and we pottered around under the boat for 20 minutes without any sign of a shark.  I was more interested in trying to get video of the sea snake that had appreared that morning, taking shelter under Mad Fish. 

While having a fatal venom, sea snakes are very passive and combined with their very small mouth, bites are very unusual.  This one was not interested in me and swam away every time I approached to film it. 

There were lots of campers and fishers at Shelter Bay, some taking the car barge across to Dirk Hartog.  It is definitely a place we will return to explore on land after our retirement from sailing. 

After two nights at Shelter Bay, we motoring through the very balmy Shark Bay to Denham which was equally lovely.    I had not been there for about 35 years, and it was a very different place.   I fished for squid, swam to shore every day, and we dropped rubbish and stocked up on fresh vegies and fruit in town.   We even treated ourselves to coffee and cake out for the first time in 4 weeks. 

One afternoon, returning to Mad Fish from the shore, we saw a commotion in the water ahead of us - a small eagle ray was leaping, repeatedly, out of the water and there were lots of splashes. Soon it was swimming past us on the surface, followed closely by a 2-3 metre hammerhead shark.   The commotion and leaps lasted another minute or so, before everything went quiet.  I fear the poor eagle ray had met its fate. 

It was a real treat to see a hammerhead shark so close - diving with hammerheads is one of my dreams.  But had I know there were hammerheads swimming in those shallow water, I would not have been swimming to the beach each day!

Some of you asked for photos of dugongs.  Sorry to disappoint.  There was a large old bull that came around the boat a few times, but I was never quick enough to get into the water to take photos.  We saw a few other humps on the surface over our travels through Shark Bay, but they were too elusive to get photos. 

We stayed five nights anchored off Denham, then sailed to Broadhurst Bite, near the northern point of the Peron Peninsula, via the Broadhurst Coral patch for a dive.  We anchored, kitted up, an dived directly off the back deck to find that we were in the wrong parking spot!   S2ee knows to check the coordinates more closely next time.   

The colours and landscape in Shark Bay are wonderful. The contrast of the red landscape with the aqua seas, the prolific seagrass meadows (I read they are the most expansive in the world) and the amazing flora and fauna, make this a special place which I would love to further explore when time permits.  But we needed to move on, and made another early departure for an overnight sail to Coral Bay, which is where we are now.   More on that in the next blog! 

Thanks to those of you who have made comments - I really appreciate getting them.   But if you do, can you leave your name please?   I have not yet worked out if and how I can identify who is making comments.

Love to all 

Naomi and S2ee