Australia - 26 - Fremantle & Perth

Tuesday, 25 April 2023

The seas eased somewhat overnight, but the heavy-going had our ship running about an hour behind schedule. After 10 days of remote travel, docking at Fremantle Harbour and going into Perth was a huge change!

Another early day - but the sunrise behind Perth was quite nice!

Breakfast was filled with rainbows - even a full-arc double.

Is this ore ship carrying gold from the end of the rainbow?

April 25 is ANZAC Day - a huge day of remembrance and commemoration for all who served in the armed forces in Australia and New Zealand. It was originally set up to honor the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, their first engagement in World War I. Starting with a sunrise memorial service, it's a solemn occasion as if the U.S.'s Memorial Day and Veterans Day were combined. Every town has a parade, and we watched the parade in Fremantle, where every naval ship docked there sent a unit to the parade.

After the parade was over, we had a Perth city tour, including a short time on Cottesloe Beach.

Before ending at a downtown hotel where we were able to have some refreshments and wait for our transfers to the airport, we had about 45 minutes in Kings Park and Botanic Garden. These are Rainbow Lorikeets (a type of parrot) eating palm berries in the park.

Red-flowering gum (Corymbia ficifolia). Fortunately, just about everything in a botanic garden is labeled!

Another interesting flower in the botanic garden, Grevillia.

In the afternoon we flew to Perth for a morning flight back to Los Angeles and on to Washington, DC (Dulles Airport). But our flight was delayed for 24 hours because it had detoured to Honolulu to handle a medical emergency. We gained back our day - landing in L.A. "3 hours" before we took off (after a 15-hour flight!) on Thursday, 27 April.

All in all, a great trip! We plan on going back "Down Under" to see New Zealand, Tasmania, and few more places in Australia.

Australia - 25 - White Sandy Island (Easter Group, Abrolhos Islands)

Monday, 24 April 2023

Our last day on the ship was windy and blustery. We visited a very tiny island - only 150 m (500 ft) long - off the northern end of the larger Rat Island. It was difficult to believe that it wasn't completely submerged during high tide, although it was clear that it did remain above sea level.

Wind and currents canceled our last day of snorkeling, but we had an interesting visit to the island nonetheless.

Immediately upon landing, we were greeted by a group of sea lions sleeping on the beach. Obviously, we had to keep our distance, and that could be a challenge on such a small island.

A young sea lion was wailing for its mama - finally meeting success.

A sea lion comes ashore.

At first we thought this sea lion was bleeding, but it became apparent that the reddish stain in the water was poop, not blood.

Lots of sea birds were also on the island.The black and white bird is a Pied Oystercatcher. The bird at the left is probably a Great Crested Tern, while the small birds in the foreground are Roseate Terns.

Roseate Terns with their pale pink breasts in the foreground. The Great Crested Tern in the background has its feathers ruffled by the strong wind.

An unidentified tern coming in for a landing.

Smaller birds lined up on the beach.

The end of the island and threatening clouds.

The Caledonian Sky and a Zodiac ferrying passengers between the beach and the ship.

By the time we got back aboard the ship, the wind had increased, and sailing was generally unpleasant in rough seas. Some afternoon activities were cancelled, and others were poorly attended. We stayed in our cabin and watched the concluding slide show on the cabin television.

Australia - 24 - Turtle Bay on East Wallabi Island (Abrolhos Islands)

Sunday, 23 April 2023

The Houtman Abrolhos archipelago (also called the Abrolhos Islands) are a string of islands off the west coast of Australia, about 80 km (50 miles) west of Geraldton. They are mostly noted for sea life of all sorts, and shipwrecks. We spent some time on the beach in Turtle Bay on East Wallabi Island.

The walking path at the eastern end of the island is marked by large cairns.

The eastern end of Turtle Bay.

Wallaby tracks. Unfortunately, we did not see any wallabies, as they tend not to come out in the heat of the day.

Sand Dragon. While having a reputation for being shy, this lizard posed for us for at least 10 minutes.

Sea Eagle nest near the shore. Like that of many other eagle species, this nest is reused each year by adding another layer of sticks and nesting material.

White-breasted Sea Eagle - most likely the "owner" of the nest.

The terrain on East Wallabi Island.

Back on board ship, another sunset worth viewing.

Australia - 23 - Monkey Mia in Shark Bay

Saturday, 22 April 2023

Shark Bay and the lands & islands surrounding it are the westernmost point in Australia - and a UNESCO World Heritage site. We spent the day on the peninsula in the middle of the bay, taking in the "dolphin experience" at Monkey Mia (pronounced with a long i, not "ee") in the early morning, followed by walks and a trip to the Ocean Park Aquarium on the other side of the peninsula.

At the Dolphin Experience, visitors can wade into the bay, or watch from a pier. The dolphins are fed by two park rangers and the feeding process has been carefully planned to not supplant the dolphins necessity to catch food and feed their young on their own.

Two dolphins coming in to get fed.

The Experience attracts a lot of dolphins. We saw about 12, but some days there are more than 20. The park rangers know which dolphins they want to feed each day, and make sure that only those dolphins get fed.

The dolphins are identified by their dorsal fins, tails, and scars. This "regular" has clearly seen more than her share of encounters with sharks, and has an easily identified dorsal fin.

Lots of birds were hanging out on sandbars at low tide.

This falcon is an Australian Hobby.

Australian Pelicans tower over smaller sea birds.

Looking back at Shark Bay from the top of the ridge, you can see how abruptly the sand color changes from nearly white (from corals and sea shells) to the rusty orange sand from the native rocks.

An emu crosses the trail.

Ocean Park Aquarium

At first glance, the Ocean Park Aquarium did not look too inviting, but it had a nice collection of local sea life. 

Squid

Lionfish. The lighting over the tanks was generally blue/purple, skewing the color of photos.

Mirages

The distant shore looked very peculiar at times. We finally figured out that we were seeing mirages floating above the hills.

Looking across the bay from the Aquarium, the shore seemed to have some strange landforms.

Salt piles across the bay at Useless Loop. Again the tops of the salt piles are mostly mirage.

Strange floating mesas - again mirages.

Australia - 22 - Coral Bay

Friday, 21 April 2023

Coral Bay is a resort community south of Exmouth on the west coast of Australia. The Ningaloo Reef is just offshore here, making it a major destination for snorkeling.

An early morning excursion schedule meant we were up for sunrise.

The crew was readying Zodiacs as the sun was rising.

We landed at Maud's Landing Beach - Zodiacs are not allowed to land on the Coral Bay beach. It was a 10-minute bus ride over to Coral Bay. The seas were fairly rough.

Coral Bay had a large campground. Many Australian campers have a very military look to them.

We were supposed to have a tour of the reef on a glass-bottom boat, followed by snorkeling. But high tide and rough waters made both unsafe. A few hardy snorkelers were out on the reef, you can see them (circled in yellow) in front of the boat, along with the vigorous waves breaking over the reef. Definitely not "snorkeling for beginners". Instead of snorkeling, we had time to visit the few shops in this very small town.

Gradation in ocean color on Coral Bay beach.

Another view of ocean colors from Coral Bay beach.

Australia - 21 - The Main Event: Total Eclipse of the Sun

Thursday, 20 April 2023

The day we've all been waiting for - a total solar eclipse. This will be our second total eclipse - the first one was in Oregon in 2017. (And we're preparing for the 2024 eclipse that will traverse the United States from Texas to Maine.)

We were anchored just off Exmouth, on the center line of totality. The beach at Exmouth had a lot of land-based eclipse viewers.

We were joined off-shore by the Pacific Explorer, a 2000-passenger cruise ship with 140 eclipse-viewers on board on a Sky & Telescope eclipse cruise.

Lon took this picture of me at my "eclipse station". I took all my photos with hand-held cameras, since I thought that the ship's movement would make keeping an image in a camera on a tripod difficult. Turned out I could have used a tripod, but then I didn't have to cart it around for a month for a single day's use!

The eclipse sequence. Click on the photo to view a larger version.

Totality. Unfortunately, I have not figured out, after years of trying, how to force my "little camera" (Canon PowerShot SX720 HS) to focus at infinity.

Exmouth was a US Navy communications base in World War II. The array of antennas for submarine communications is still there.

Tonight was Australian BBQ night on board the ship with carved fruits decorating the buffet table.