This was a “bonus” adventure as we had not included it in our original planning. Thanks to a marketing brochure we discovered swimming with sea lions offered by Sea Lion Charters from Jurien Bay. We left Dongara straight after Brekky as we had an early charter, and headed straight to Jurien Bay, a 1.5 hr drive down the coast.
Another group had been out before us on the same charter, and they’d seen 3 sea lions so that gave us some hope. Our boat sped out to a small island 30 mins from Jurien Bay, where we immediately saw Sea Lions on the beach. Snorkels and flippers on once again and we were in the pristine water on what was a glorious day.
We then waited, swimming around, for about 30 mins while we waited .. and waited .. But alas the sea lions remained resolutely on the beach. We saw a baby sea lion try a small swim out towards us – and then turn back to the beach as Mum came towards him.
Eventually our impatience was rewarded and several sea lions came out inquisitively and swam around us. It was awesome! They swam up close and checked us out (Richard’s GoPro included), scratched their backs on the coral, did loops in the water following the example of our tour guides, and played above the water with each other. The interaction between the sea lions and we swimmers was the difference with this marine swim.
After our swim we were blessed with dugong sightings – tick another WA animal off the list! – and then a pod of dolphins swimming around our boat. Our tour guides were so excited they put on masks and flippers and just jumped off the boat to swim with the dugong and dolphins!!
After returning to Jurien Bay we continued our drive south where we quickly adjusted the itinerary, moving the Lobster Shack to lunch time today. And what a good move. Yummmm. We all enjoyed various versions of WA Rock Lobster , with the Lobster Chowder a popular dish. Sadly we had a schedule to keep so it was off to our motel in Cervantes to drop off bags etc have a quick kip and then drive to the Pinnacles for a star-gazing tour.
The star gazing tour started with a description of the various bushes and flowers etc and what was edible. We then explored the Pinnacles desert park as the sun went down. What an amazing experience. More on it tomorrow. We had dinner under the stars on a freezing evening before our guide showed us Orion etc and gave some background on the constellations. A quick photo under the stars before we headed back to our motel after a very big day!
Travelling.Shoes Adventures 