Staircase to the Moon

During 2 or 3 nights each month from March through October, a spectacular phenomenon occurs in Broome. When the tide is extremely low, the rippled mudflats are exposed beyond the sandy beaches of Roebuck Bay. On these special nights for only 5-10 minutes, the full moon actually rises over the horizon, reflecting off the exposed ripples of sand and creating an image best described as “The Staircase to the Moon.”

Apparently last month was cloudy on the nights it was expected to appear, so no one was able to witness the phenomenon. Luckily I timed my trip to Broome perfectly so that I would have 2 chances to see it before flying back to the east coast.

Last night, the Kimberly Klub shuttled a big group of us over to Town Beach, where hundreds of people stood waiting for the main event. Behind the lookout was a field crowded with spectators and night markets. Though I didn’t get a chance to meander my way through all the booths, I was quite happy to grab a $3 hot dog for dinner.

My friends and I gathered along the edge of a plateau above the beach, facing where we expected the moon to rise. Slowly the sky became a little brighter over one patch of the horizon, and everyone else crowded together in anticipation.

crowds gathering

Watching the moon rise is an unusual experience. Everyone has seen the sun rise and the sun set, but I would never have thought that it was possible to actually witness the reverse happen with the moon. Unlike the sunrise or sunset, which draws out all the colors of the rainbow across the sky, the moon simply glowed a warm orange-ish tint. And just as everyone said it would, the moon actually reflected off the banks. It looked as if you could actually run along the beach and climb right up to it. Truly amazing!

Everyone’s flashes were going off as they desperately tried to capture an image of the phenomenon. Myself included. No matter which setting I put on my camera, nothing turned out well. The coolest shot I took resulted in what looked like the moon exploding.

and then the moon exploded

Tonight I was better prepared. My errand for the day was to buy a cheap tri-pod for my camera. I found one of those beady looking tripods that bends and wraps around free-standing objects so that it doesn’t require a flat ground or table, which is rarely available when you would actually need it.

This time around, my friend Arnika drove 3 of us to the Golf Club just a bit further down the road from where all the markets are. The clubhouse itself was closed, but there were 2 or 3 other carloads of people who had the same idea as us. I claimed a street sign for my tripod, which ended up being right in the middle of one of those groups of people. I set my camera to the “starry night” setting with a 60 second shutter speed. And…. Voila!

Staircase to the Moon

I’m sure if you Googled “Staircase to the Moon,” you would find much more clear and professional looking pictures. But I was rather proud of capturing what I could of this night. (Even though there was a blasted boat in the way.) I even lent my tripod to another onlooker, who had a similar camera as mine, so that he could share his photo with all his friends.

What a night! This definitely ranks as one of my favorite memories in Western Australia.

Whale Sharks in Exmouth

SUCCESS!

As soon as we arrived in Exmouth yesterday, our first stop was the tourist information center where we were determined to book a tour swimming with the whale sharks. Luckily, there are 7 different companies that run from Exmouth to the Ningaloo Reef. A couple of them were already booked out, and when Britt and I pressed the employee to tell us which company provides the best tour, she simply replied that they are all paying customers so she can’t give an opinion on the matter… but would we like to book with 3 Islands? At the time I thought she was just trying to book us on that tour because there was plenty of room, and she was trying to even out the numbers on all the different boats. But in retrospect, I’m fairly certain she was trying to hint to us that we would have the best experience with them. I’m so glad we went with the 3 Islands tour!

3 Islands picked us up from the visitor information center this morning and then swooped around to pick everyone else up at their accommodations (including ours, but we hadn’t booked that until after we booked the whale shark tour). It was probably a half hour drive around the top of the peninsula to the other side where a small dingy waited for us on the beach. We took turns hopping onto the dingy, which shuttled us out into the deeper water where our proper diving vessel was anchored. The crew gave us their greetings and introductions (and some morning tea and biscuits) as we set off to a snorkeling spot along the inner reef. Similar to yesterday, they were giving us the opportunity to snorkel around and get used to our equipment… and probably scan to see who would most likely need rescuing. Not only was the current not as strong as it was outside of Coral Bay, but the visibility was also significantly better. Right from the beginning, we knew this would be a great day of snorkeling!

The snorkeling sight was only about 5 or 6 meters deep, but within a half hour I saw parrotfish, pufferfish, starfish, venomous catfish indigenous to the Ningaloo Reef, and a rather large and intimidating moray eel… just to name a few.

wrasse and parrotfish

stars and stripes pufferfish

starfish

black sailfin catfish (venemous)

feeding on a jellyfish

(I was too scared of the eel to get close enough for a proper picture.)

After we snorkeled around a bit, the crew waved at us to return to the boat. The spotter planes had already taken off and were radioing in to the boat the location of a whale shark. By the time we arrived at its location in the outer reef, the whale shark had already dived down into deeper water. Because they are actually sharks and not whales, there is no reason that the whale shark actually needs to surface since they don’t require oxygen. They prefer the surface for its warmth, but may dive down either because they feel threatened or because they want food, in which case they would dive down and then resurface with its mouth wide open to catch plankton and krill. We waited a moment, but this particular whale shark never resurfaced so the spotter plane tracked down some more sharks for us.

By the time we were ready to jump in the water, I could barely sit still I was so overwhelmed with excitement. 16 people were on our boat but only 8 people (plus our guide) are allowed to swim with the shark at any particular time. Therefore our guide was the first one in the water, and the first group was instructed to quietly slide into the water behind her. “Keep your head down!” No sooner had we jumped into the water that the massive whale shark appeared right in front of us. Even though no one could hear me, I was still saying, “oh my goodness, this is unreal!” through my snorkel. All you see underwater is this massive creature swimming towards you, then its mouth opens as big as the windshield of a Greyhound bus and you get a vision of being sucked into its body like Pinocchio. Of course it ducked right underneath us, and as soon as we gained composure, we were racing after it.

After the first group got their chance to swim with the shark, our guide would motion for us to stop and then the next group would drop into the water a slight distance in front of the shark and pick it back up. We would trade back and forth like this a handful of times until the shark finally dove deep below the surface outside of our visibility. Then the plane would indicate our next location for finding a whale shark. Though the spotter planes help, there is no guarantee that any whale sharks will be in the area, even during the peak season, simply because they are wild animals and they decide when and where they want to go. We were extremely lucky to have seen so many whale sharks! What’s even more remarkable is that in one particular snorkeling session, there were 2 whale sharks swimming together. We were frantically swimming trying to keep up with the first one and then all of a sudden another one popped up underneath us. It scared the wits out of me! Only one guide on our boat has seen 2 whale sharks swimming together before and she thought it was probably 3 or so odd years ago… and she takes these tours out almost every day!

Whale sharks are the largest creatures in the sea, the biggest recorded being 18m long! The whale sharks we saw today had not yet reached maturity and ranged from 5-8m in length. (Apparently the really big ones are found around Taiwan!) In addition to its size, the most alluring aspect of whale sharks is its total mystery in the world of marine biology. The migration patterns vary significantly between each individual whale shark and there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for their choice of direction. And they usually always travel alone, which made it super cool that we saw 2 together! No one knows where or how they mate or even where they give birth to their young. They don’t know whether the mother cares for her young or if she just leaves them to fend for themselves. Only in the last 5 years did scientists discover that they give birth to live young. A female whale shark was unfortunately hunted down in Taiwan, and when they cut her open, she held 300 fetuses at different stages of development. Such a shame!

The whale shark is listed as “vulnerable” to extinction in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. ECOCEAN developed a program through which tourists and tour guides can submit pictures of the whale sharks in order to help keep track of their migration patterns and hopefully learn more about them. Their spots (or “bodyprints”) are as unique as our fingerprints, so they ask that you take a picture on the left side of the whale shark perpendicular to its spotting above its left pectoral fin. They use the same program to map the pattern of spots that NASA uses to record the positioning of stars. After submitting your picture, ECOCEAN will send you an email any time this shark is identified in the future all across the world! I didn’t capture any great images at the correct angle from the left side of the whale sharks, so even though I can’t participate, I still thought this program sounded really cool and worth mentioning. It’s a great way to get everyone involved in learning more about these amazing creatures!

I can’t stop looking at my own pictures!

reef shark swimming with the whale shark

After our experience swimming with the whale sharks, we were given one last snorkeling opportunity along the inner reef. I’ve never been a fan of snorkeling until this trip. I suppose my previous snorkeling experiences have never been comparable to my SCUBA diving experiences, but the Ningaloo Reef was certainly an exception! I saw the stars and stripes pufferfish again, as well as some other interesting sea life. None of those were as exciting as the flounder! I’ve never seen a flounder before, and to be honest I’m fairly surprised I was able to see it this time. As soon as it stopped moving, it was impossible to see. I tried to point it out to a few other people snorkeling, but ended up just having to show them my pictures. So cool!

flounder!

red bell jellyfish

This was truly an amazing day… one I will never forget!!! I wish everyone had the opportunity to experience Ningaloo Reef. Believe the hype!

Swimming with Dolphins

Rockingham’s claim to fame is its ecotourism opportunities. Not only do they have an island that is home to penguins and sea lions, but there is also a breeding ground for bottlenose dolphins just off the coast. I signed up for the Wild Encounters tour in hopes of getting to meet some of these dolphins I’d heard so much about! A shuttle bus picked a bunch of us up from the train station in Perth (only a block or 2 from my hostel) and drove us down to Rockingham, about an hour south.

We hopped on the boat, listened to some briefings, then made our way toward sea. Soon enough, we came across our first dolphins. The crew split us up into 6 groups with about 6-7 people in each. Each group wore a different colored weight belt (without the weights) to minimize confusion. They would call 3 of the groups to the back of the boat, where we anxiously sat along the platform with our masks on, waiting for the word to jump in. First they send out a “contact point” so that the dolphins can become friendly with someone in our group (a guide with her own scooter).

making contact with the dolphin

When they’re relaxed and ready, the 3 groups jump in together. I was a blue belt. So my job was to slide into the water and grab the blue belt of the person in front of me. That way we all ended up making a chain so we could just float on the surface. The guide in front was equipped with a scooter to propel us closer toward the dolphins.

swimming in chains

The 1st time we jumped in with the dolphins, we saw 2 playing around with each other and spiraling toward the surface. So cute! They really are gorgeous creatures. From then on, we took turns with the other groups in the boat, jumping in and observing the dolphins in their natural environment. I think the best part was just watching everyone else’s excitement when we spotted dolphins and the anticipation before jumping in the water with them.

the whole lot of us!

On the boat, I made friends with Roman – a Swiss guy about my age who was also there by himself – and he happened to be a scuba diver as well. It was nice having someone with the same outlook as me to compare notes. While the trip was really fun and everyone else was so pumped about the dolphins, I think Roman and I were slightly disappointed just because we’ve been spoiled by our diving. The visibility in the water was only about 3-5 meters at best, so unless the dolphins were right in front of you, it was pretty difficult to see them. It was also frustrating being at the mercy of your guide and group. Most people on the boat didn’t seem very comfortable in the water, so instead of floating motionless on the surface, they were splashing around and kicking, which didn’t help the viewing situation. Oh, if I could have had my fins!

The dolphin viewing from the boat was amazing because there were dozens in the water at any given time. But the process of actually swimming with them seemed a little forced. The crew seemed a little disappointed as well though, so I think I may have just caught it on a mediocre day. Regardless, it was still a really nice experience. Amazing views. Beautiful creatures! And a very friendly staff. I also think it’s a really positive program to hold wild encounters with marine life, rather than watching them perform tricks in captivation. (Like SeaWorld, yuck!) Dolphins can live up to 50 years or even longer, but in captivation, they tend to live around 20-25 years maximum. Dolphins are very social creatures, so when they become captivated, many of them become stressed and even depressed, thus leading to a shorter life span. Pretty sad…

That being said, we had a really fun day. Lots of sun and activity and great views! Once we docked, we had about an hour to kill before they finished making our DVD copy of the day. So Roman and I stationed ourselves at a pub with 4 other Australian women from our tour. Great entertainment! We parted ways after the bus, but Roman met up with me and Britt at the Perth train station shortly after for our Sunday Session at Cottesloe that we’d heard so much about. (A must do!) Roman stayed for dinner but was still pretty jet lagged so he made his way home early. Britt and I were determined to have ONE night out in Perth, so we barhopped from the Cottesloe Hotel to the OBH (Ocean Beach Hotel). I was certainly impressed with the number of people who made it out… the OBH had at least 4 different rooms with bars that we could find, 2 of which had live music. I think the whole point of a Sunday Session is to start early though, so we kinda missed the boat. I think we were both relieved when they kicked everyone out around 10pm… bed time!!!