Cruise Diary: Esperance, Australia
Guest Sharon Johnson and her husband were on Volendam for the trans-Pacific voyage to Sydney and the circumnavigation of Australia for 55 days. Enjoy these photos from their call at Esperance, Australia.
On November 12th, Al and I took the “Bay of Islands Wildlife Cruise” to Woody Island in the Recherché Archipelago with Esperance Island Cruises. Esperance was a tender port so Al and I boarded the tender for our long ride to the main dock in Esperance where a catamaran was waiting for us. We had a sightseeing ride out to Woody Island. We viewed the rocky shoreline of Esperance and then headed to a rocky island where seals and seal lions could be found. We also saw several sea eagles and Cape Barren geese and other wildlife on rocky islands before stopping at Woody Island where we would have morning tea or coffee with muffins. While on the island we took a short bush walk and heard the history of the area and of the island. — Sharon and Al Johnson
On the catamaran with a view of Esperance's main beach.
Al with the view of Esperance in the dock area.
Our guide told us that when the that algae grows on the rocks (the dark stain) gets wet it is extremely slippery. People climbing on the rocks slip and slide into the ocean and drown as do their friends who try to save them.
Rocky shoreline west of Esperance.
These are more photos of our shore excursion, Bay of Islands Cruise. I felt really lucky to get the Sea Eagle photos as I usually don’t photograph birds flying as fast as the sea eagle do. I like birds standing still.
Sea Eagle with black finger tipped wings circled around our boat.
After seeing the Sea Eagle, we found some Sea Lions laying around a rocky island in the Recherché Archipelago that we could get close enough for photos. The archipelago and Esperance are named for two French ships that were forced to seek shelter there from a severe storm in 1792. Matthew Flinders charted the southern coast of Australia a decade later. His charts are still used today. The whole archipelago has never been fully charted and many ships have run aground on the reefs in this area. Then we docked at Woody Island for an hour so that we could have morning tea and go for a short walk to Lookout Point.
Sammy the Sea Lion. We expected to find him lying on the beach, but when we got there a fisherman was filleting fish. Sammy thus was in the water begging for some scraps.
