Exmouth

Humpback Whales

Caitlin and Cooper did some journal writing and school work - not without resistance! We packed some gear for the beach, bought some rolls at the bakery and booked a whale watching sunset tour for later today. We drove to the tip of northwest cape past the Naval Communication Station and the world's largest 'Very Low Frequency' transmitter, Tower Zero. Standing at 387.6m it is surrounded by 12 others. We continued on to the Mildura wreck - a 1907 cattle ship wreck. The kids found lots of clam shell washed up on the beach but the highlight was the amount of turtles close to the shore. Three species of marine turtles, green, loggerhead and hawksbill nest on mainland beaches adjacent to Ningaloo reef from November to March. Between September and November they are mating and the beach here was obviously where all the action was. We saw a pair very close to shore. We stayed a good 20 meters back so as not to disturb them. Apparently the female turtles often come to the waters edge to escape the continual harassment from the males. We continued on to check out the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse and drove as far as the Jurabi Turtle Centre before heading to Bundegi Beach for a quick swim. We had to meet at the front of the caravan park where we were taken by bus to the marina where we boarded the boat. Humpback whales are regularly spotted on the coral coast between June and November before making their southerly migration. As it was drawing close to the end of the season we weren't too sure if we were going to see many. But we had only been out a short time and the skipper spotted a mother and a calf off in the distance. We headed over to them and although the boat had to keep 100m we were able to get a great view of them. We had a little bit of a show with some tail slapping and a small breach. It was difficult to get a good photo. We cruised back in as the sun was setting.