Yesterday we picked up a specialist coastal pilot Dave, who is required to accompany the ship into the Shark Bay UNESCO world heritage area. He will spend some 10 days on the ship, for what the captain described as “an hour’s work each way”, but that turned out be a slight exaggeration. Dave had a few hours work, some days, but was otherwise left to his own devices and could enjoy the run of the ship and all it offers. Including snorkelling and other fun stuff. Tough job Dave, but someone has to do it!
It was our first overcast day and showers were coming, but we rugged up and headed into Cape Peron for an afternoon of walks and dugong spotting. I opted out of the walk in favour of an ocean swim, so rugged up for me meant wetsuit. It’s not something I can don on the beach like surfer dudes do. We were told the water temp was 18, but I think that was out where the ship was, because it actually felt warmer than Ningaloo to our north. But clearly most sensible people had been deterred by the forecast and took the walk. Me, I’m on a mission and need to toughen up. The pool at home is set to 30 degrees in winter, so I don’t get much cold water exposure. A couple of the crew joined me briefly, but otherwise it was just me in the sea, with my personal lifeguard sitting in her hoodie in the rain on the beach.
I’m relieved to say Shark Bay didn’t live up to its name, and despite the absence of a reef to explore, I loved it and felt saintly from all the cardio. My kind of exercise can be hard to find on the ship.
Le Soleal was anchored quite a way out so the zodiac trip took a while, which was fine on the way in, not as fun on the return when we saturated and cold. But we were in great spirits as we’d seen dugongs and enjoyed our time ashore, and a hot shower and cold cocktail or three awaited us. Luckily, that was the only real rain we got all trip.
It was a slow picture day so I’ve included some pix of Paul in the gym that morning. See below, as he studies a piece of equipment he’s clearly never seen before! Too funny, Fulty. And of course there are no dugong pix because they’re even harder to snap than whales.
