Shark Bay
From Kalbarri, we made our way to Shark Bay. Our first stop was to Hamelin Pool to see the stromatolites. Similar to the ones we saw in Kalbarri, the coral-like formations consist of cyanobacteria almost identical to organisms that existed 3.5 billion years ago.
Microbail mats - they have been around for over three billion years and influenced evolution by breathing oxygen into the earths atmosphere.
Fish!
One place I have been looking forward to seeing since we planned our trip to the West Coast was Shell Beach. The beach is comprised of tiny cockle shells, densely compacted over time. It is one of only a few beaches on Earth made up of billions of just one species of shell. The water is very salty, so there is not much in marine life, but we did get to see a sting ray!
Our last stop for the afternoon was to Eagle Bluff. From this vantage point, we could see down into the clear blue waters and spotted several sea turtles and sharks swimming below!
Monday we spent the day at Monkey Mia, a marine reserve in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. The reserve is known for the friendly group of wild bottlenose dolphins that swim to the shore to feed up to three times a day starting at 7:45am. Alex and I arrived at 7:30am to catch the first feeding experience. There were over 150 people waiting at the waters edge to see the dolphins and the volunteers randomly select 15 individuals to feed the dolphins. It was amazing to watch the dolphins so close to the shore. They are such graceful and peaceful animals.
The second showing took place about an hour later (the dolphins will randomly show up several times from 7:45am - 12:00pm). For the second experience, the crowd was significantly smaller (maybe 70 people in total) and I WAS CHOSEN TO FEED A DOLPHIN! I got to feed a dolphin named Kia and she was so patient and gentle as I handed her the fish in the water. It was such an amazing experience and I cannot tell you how happy and elated I was to be chosen. A highlight of the trip for sure.
We spent the remainder of the day relaxing on the beach. This area has no shortage of wildlife and we saw an emu walking along the beach, a pelican, and another dolphin later in the day.
Emu hanging on the beach!
Pelican + Dolphin
This area has not seen rain since July of last year (!!!!) and in the evening there are several kangaroos who hop up to the hotel where we are staying in the hopes of food and water. The owner of the hotel mentioned the animals are starting to get desperate since their food source is dwindling due to a lack of rain. The people who own the hotel do feed the kangaroos which encourages them to keep coming each day.
Mom kangaroo with baby joey in her pouch!
We leave Shark Bay tomorrow and will head further north to Coral Bay. It is unclear if we will have internet moving forward, so it may be quiet on the blog for a little while. I will be sure to keep taking pictures and post when I can!
