We got up early and drove back to Monkey Mia again to participate in the dolphin feeding. Jean went onto the beach while I stayed on the jetty. the whole thing was not really exciting and left one feeling a bit let down.
We decided to go out for an hour on one of the two boats which offer dolphin and other marine life viewing. This was a very good decision as the outing, short as it was, made up and more for the earlier disappointment. Soon after we left the dock, we spent 15 minutes with one group of dolphins which included a mother teaching her calf how to hunt, very exciting. We move on to another part of the bay where there are sea grass meadows looking for dugong. we didn't see dugong but we got a marvelous view of a White-spotted Shovelnose Ray. We also saw a Pied Cormorant fishing in company with a dolphin. The water was shallow and clear and we had a wonderful view of the cormorant swimming really fast to keep up with the dolphin. We left Monkey Mia well satisfied with the visit.
On the way back to the Highway, we took a short diversion down a dirt road to a place called Eagle Bluff. This is a well set up lookout on top of a cliff overlooking the western arm of Shark Bay. We didn't see any Osprey which give the place its name but we did see sharks, rays, and fish in the beautifully clear shallow water of the bay.
Jean was miffed because she heard a young woman refer to us as ferals but I pointed out that we really are feral because we come from elsewhere, even if that isn't what the young woman meant.
We saw a Daddy Emu with several chicks beside the road and stopped to take their photo.
As we were driving south, we got a call on the CB from some friends who were travelling north in the ute going to Denham. We gave them a brief report on the place and wondered how much they would see given that it was three o'clock and they still had 80 km (50 mile to go to Denham and a further 25 km (15 miles)to Monkey Mia where all the action seems to take place in the morning. We saw them arrive back at Overlander just on dusk and will check out how their trip went tomorrow.
All in all our visit to Shark Bay had been well worth the effort and we were glad we had taken the time to see its sights.