We stopped
the first night on the passage, after sailing only 50 miles, at the northern
tip of Dirk Hartog Island and picked up the mooring in Turtle Bay for the night and to wait for the weather (winds) to moderate as forecast. Dirk Hartog Island is the western most point
of land in Australia, and a place of great historic significance as well as a
place of great natural beauty. This is definitely a place we want to visit again.
A place in
history was sealed in the year 1616 when the island was discovered by captain
Dirk Hartog
of the Dutch East India Company ship Eendrach. The names of senior people
on board, including Hartog's were inscribed with the date on a pewter plate and
nailed to a post as he claimed the land for the
Dutch. He was only the first of many
early explorers to visit the prominent land mark on the western coast of
Australia.Today, a light house stands on the northwestern cape of the island, which forms the northwestern corner of Australia.
We arrived at
Turtle Bay early, about 3:00 pm after an ideal sail across Shark Bay. Shark Bay is more than 5 million acres and a
UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to seemingly boundless wildlife plus the world’s
largest beds of sea grass. It is a relatively
shallow, huge bay, a popular tourist destination as well as a destination for
humpback whales and the world’s largest concentration of dugongs,
(manatees). Without exaggeration, whales
were in constant sight the whole 50 miles as we crossed the Bay from northeast
to southeast.
Frankly it was
unbelievable to see that many whales all around us. What a memorable experience. It was also great sailing weather, with
temperatures in the 70’s (F) and 15-25 knots behind the beam.
The abundance
of humpback whales prompted us to pull out our small hydrophone to see if we
could hear them sing. Wow, were we glad
we did. We even recorded some of their
vocalizations simply by holding the Ipad to the stereo speaker. The hydrophone is a small unit originally marketed
for kayakers. It runs on a 9 volt
battery, and has a 3.5 mm output jack that we plug in to the auxiliary input on
our CD player.
 |
| The cliffs and slopes of Dirk Hartog Island lit by the warm light of sunset while we listen to the whales. |
Click on the white/red arrow by the whale's tail below to hear the whales we recorded.
 |
| Our hydrophone is from Aquarian Audio and plugs in to the auxiliary input to our onboard stereo |
There
were so many whales, and some so close to the boat that evening, after dark in
the light of the full moon, we could hear them singing without the
hydrophone! That was a first for us, as
we listened to their songs reverberate through Katmai’s hull. Truly an amazing experience. We have seen a lot of whales during our time
in Alaska, but nothing that could remotely compare to the abundance of whales
here in Australia. By some estimates,
the humpback whale population is growing nearly 10 percent per year in Western
Australia, and is nearly back to pre-whaling population levels. How good is that? Fantastic and rather
amazing considering the harbor we stayed in while in Carnarvon was a whaling
station that took nearly 8000 humpback whales alone, and it was only one of
several stations along the coast. The
whaling stopped in the 1960’s. Whaling was, by some accounts, the first viable
industry in Western Australia after the arrival of Europeans. Now days of
course, Australia is very focused on conservation and protection of these
gorgeous giants.
 |
| Whale spout mist in the air in front of the Cape of Dirk Hartog Island, with a silhouette of the lighthouse backlit by the rising sun as we left Turtle Bay for the run to Geraldton on Tuesday about 6 am. |
All in all,
we spent 18 days in Carnarvon waiting for that engine part, and then waiting
for the proper weather to head south and continue our journey to Fremantle. Fremantle is the
main harbor for Perth Australia and where we will leave Katmai while we return back to
the USA. Eric is holding the long awaited elbow for the engine exhaust manifold just after its arrival from Perth via Singapore. Yeah, right part, phew!! 
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