This morning we went out to search for a different beach for a swim. We didn't want to drive too far as we had appointments in town at lunchtime. Our first stop was a beach not far beyond Vlamingh lighthouse, it says it's clothing optional, but there wasn't anyone there. I went for a brief swim, but it was a bit rocky for Lynn so we didn't stop. On our next attempt, we hit jackpot in so much that it was a beautiful sandy beach and the waves just gently lapping the shore. We both hurriedly got into the water and stayed for quite a time. I say hurriedly as the flies were awful again and once you are in the sea, they leave you alone! It's a case of get out the water and run for the car. Once in the car, drive off as fast as possible, put your foot to the floor and open all the windows.
Flies, there must be gazillions of the little blighters everywhere you go. They don't seem to bite, but try their best to get on you and inside you. I think I can handle them on my body, but I draw the line when they get in your eyes, particularly the tear ducts.
After a brief stop at the hotel we headed to the visitor centre where I was getting picked up to go diving. Lynn headed off to get her hair cut!
After collecting gear and being given an extensive security and safety brief we headed off the H.E. Holt Naval base, where they look after the VLF transmit and receive site. Our dive site was the Naval Pier on the base. This dive is reckoned to be one of the top ten shore dives in the world.
After passing through various barriers and having our passports examined, our bus drove onto the pier and out to the jetty at the end. We pulled on wetsuits, despite the water temperature of 30C, and diving kit and did a big stride entry from about 3metres up! I got buddied up with Mia, a Finnish girl who currently lives in Carnarvon. She is Divemaster Qualified, so we had similar levels of skill. Most the rest of the divers were escorted by guides, but we were left to do our own thing. Mia had a rather nice Cannon underwater camera and wanted to take pictures. That suited me fine as I could lie in the water and watch fish.
As for fish, there were hundreds of species of tropical fish ranging from nudibranchs to Leopard Sharks and most things in between. As I alluded to earlier, under the pier, in 12 metres of water, we were surrounded by fish large and small. Talking of large, besides the sharks, there was one monstrous Queensland Groper. In Europe we would call it a Grouper, not here! I'll not list the fish we saw, but in two 50 minute dives we saw an incredible range of fish. One unique fish we saw was a black sailfin catfish, only to be found at Ningaloo.
After a great afternoon, it was back to the hotel for a meal in our room, ham and salad. As it was getting dark we headed out to see if we could see any turtles laying eggs or hatchlings heading for the sea. Earlier whilst we had been on the beach we'd seen evidence that turtles had come up on the beach and laid eggs. We also thought we'd seen sign in the sand of hatchlings. We sat on the beach until it was dark but failed in our efforts, but did see the most amazingly starry skies. There is no light pollution here.
On the way back, we finally saw Kangaroos, at least two groups. We were beginning to think we wouldn't see them. No turtles, Kangaroos instead.
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