the beaked whale

Yesterday at Leighton beach there was a whale swimming around – it cruised as close as 10 metres from the shore – and stayed in the bay for about an hour.

At first I thought it was a huge bottle nose dolphin – it was ‘looping’ its way through the water in a very similar way – but then it came closer and all of a sudden it was over 3 metres long.  So beautiful – so graceful.

Since I have been living here, I must have seen more than 50 dolphins and at least 10 whales – but I will never lose that sense of  ‘first time’ thrill that tingles through from head to toe, every time I see them.

This time it was a Gray’s Beaked Whale – they generally reside in groups and in much deeper water – also the whale season doesn’t start until July so the local Wildlife Department has concluded that it is sick. I really hope that they are wrong – obviously this one hasn’t read the wildlife calendar.

Dancing around the beach excitedly is not a good way of taking photos – so these are a bit disappointing – I hope you will still enjoy the scroll.

where ? .  .  .

what ? .  .  .

endless blue sky today

ship ahoy !

nice seagull

oops

can you see it ?  that dark patch to the right

YAAAAYYYY

so close to the shore

so beautiful

 

Rottnest Channel Swim

More than 2000 people set off from Cottesloe beach at dawn yesterday on the annual Channel Swim to Rottnest Island

Anyone can brave the challenge of the almost 20 km crossing, which ranks amongst the biggest open water swimming contests in the world. There are solo mens and womens categories + teams of up to 4 people – but this year’s event launched a very special point of difference . . .

For the first time in its 24-year history, the Rottnest Channel Swim featured an all-indigenous team.

photo: The West Australian

A Noongar* elder gave a welcome to country (traditional blessing) and invited swimmers to join in a smoking ceremony as they gathered on Cottesloe beach.

Whadjuk-Noongar custodian Ingrid Cumming told the swimmers (a team of 2 men and 2 women 18 – 45 yrs) that her spiritual ancestors would look after them, as the crossing holds a special place in Noongar culture. “Noongar cosmology says the path from the mainland to Rottnest, or Wadjemup, is a track of our spiritual ancestors,” she said.

The NSA (Noongar Sports Association) have ‘spear headed’ this initiative in the hope that an NSA All Aboriginal Swim Team will inspire more members of the community to take up swimming as a form of health and fitness activity.

Adding to the event’s indigenous flavour, more than 100 people swam to raise charity donations for the Indigenous Communities Education and Awareness Foundation.

This year’s winner (solo mens category) finished in 4 hrs 14 mins.

*Noongar are the local Aboriginal people of the Perth region

a most magnificent sand sculpture

This gigantic sand creation attracted quite a crowd at Perth’s Sorrento Beach yesterday

Hang on  .  .  .   that’s not a sand sculpture .  .  .   it’s an elephant seal, grabbing some ‘basking’ time  (probably after a long day of hunting) and he’s come all the way from Antarctica.

This is a juvenile – he’s about 2 meters long and weighs around 2000 kg – a fully grown adult can weigh up to 3000 kg!

Life must be hard, if you’re an elephant in a seal’s body

and the winners are . . .

The results of this year’s Thong Throng Challenge (see Sunday at the beach post) are:
Team South Australia  – 379
Team Queensland  – 784
Team Victoria – 1314
Team Western Australia – 2099

Congratulations Team WA at Cottesloe Beach – Havaianas Thong Challenge 2014 Winners!

sunday at the beach

There was lots of action on Sunday at the beach:

Surf Lifesaving training – it’s great to see how these kids grow up with the ocean and how naturally they master the waves

Obstacle races for the nipper groups – some of these parents were enjoying a friendly yell, as they got kicked in the ribs

some local news was going on air

Just imagine if there were two Aleshas at the beach today – some other poor bloke might find himself engaged by default .  .  .

Shark !! ? !!

No – just a beacon, viewed from a different angle

there were huge crowds gathered down here at the sheltered end of the beach

The Thong Throng Challenge is staged annually at selected beaches all around Australia

A big, quirky media attraction – with floating thongs and flying cameras

Anyone can join in and thousands of people take part. For a registration fee of $30, you ‘connect’ with thousands of people, all drifting on inflatable thongs and holding on to each other – the challenge is to break the record for the biggest number of people, floating as a collective mass on the ocean. I joined in and bobbed around in the waves, clinging to an ‘unknown foot’.

The proceeds go to the Surf Life Saving Clubs – a mass ‘good deed’ misson for a very worthy cause indeed.

birds of a feather flock to sea . . .

The blistering heat that rolled in at the end of December and is now lingering over parts of inland Australia has smashed temperature records

At the beach (Monkey Mia – 800 km north of Perth),  this mob of emus escaped the 41c temperatures with a communal bathing session.

They drew quite a crowd as they rolled around and stretched their legs out – then they tip toed out of the water, shook themselves, and dispersed in different directions to continue their ‘business as usual’.

the boys are back in town

2014 has rolled in on quite a heatwave, stoking the temperatures in Perth last weekend to as high as 44°c.  The water temperature is rising too of course – this seems to draw dolphins to the shore and  warm them up for play – particularly the ‘boys’ who have a tendency to form so-called ‘dominant male alliances’.

There are several beaches around Western Australia where you can swim, cruise or just interact with wild dolphins. My favourite spot is Koombana Bay in Bunbury – as it is still quite small and cosy –  and the shallow waters there make it easy to find them, but also offer a safe ‘nursery’ area where they regularly like to bring their calves.

There is a Dolphin Research centre there, where you can join one of the regular cruises to learn all about the ‘locals’ whose names e.g. Shanty & her calf Jingles, Lumpy, Cracker, Eclipse generally derive from the shape of their fins or markings.

But quite often, you can just watch dolphins from the shoreline – or they’ll pay you a secret visit to a quayside pub, while you’re sipping a refreshing glass of chilled wine – and the more you sip, the more you see them . . .

hump week

Finally over the struggle of that first week back at work after a break which, as usual, was loaded with too much food  .  .  .

and following the  month long  build up to the Christmas/New Year break – it popped like a bubble and was gone.

My break was very beachy – I even nipped down to Cottesloe early on Christmas day for a quick swim – by 8am it was packed with family groups setting up for an all day party.

There was bagpipe music, guitar strummers and – this jovial minstrel at the steps, greeting everyone with a happy, festive composition.

If you can’t have that ‘Christmas magic’ of glistening snow and a crackling fire place – this is definately a very enticing alternative – just look at that sand . . . still a white Christmas – don’t you think?

So let’s see what 2014 has in store for us all – lots of new adventures I hope

heatwave

With Perth’s temperatures hovering around an average 38 – 40 degrees, even the highest ranking celebrities are leaving their trousers at home

The City is embracing the summer with a colourful array of outdoor cinemas, concerts, festivals, markets and they’ve even ‘tractored’ a heap of sand into the square next to the state library – so now it’s really easy to grab a book on your way to the beach.

But there’s something wrong – none of the deckchairs are occupied – too hot today for a beach without an ocean.

beach babies

last weekend was an absolute sizzler – I can’t think of anyone here who wasn’t at the beach