Penguin Island

Today we were again on the water but this time on an organised trip to Penguin Island, Rockingham which is about a 35 minute drive from Fremantle.  We had looked at going before but I was concerned about being sea sick but Richard’s friend Steve had done the trip and said it was great.  Turns out the ferry only takes about five minutes to get to the island and today was a wonderfully calm day.  You can walk out there across the sandbanks but it is not advised as the tides can catch you out and people are have been known to drown.  Having said that we did see some people wading across waist deep in water, rather them than us for sure.

Once on Penguin Island we made our way to The Discovery Centre for penguin feeding.  They are the Little or Fairy Penguins the same we saw when we were in Melbourne on Phillip Island when they were counted back on land at night.  It was really lovely to see them in the daytime close up.  They are all rescue penguins and the rest are in the colony on the island.  Unfortunately, due to us humans there are only about 150 penguins now when there were about 2,500 15 years ago, so sad.  They were really cute and we enjoyed watching them.

We then had time to explore some of the island before our glass bottom boat trip around more islands.

We had an interesting tour of the islands, Seal and Bird Islands and were looking for dolphins, sea lions and a variety of sea birds.  The area is a conservation marine park and there are many variety of sea grass growing there which is about all we saw through the glass bottom of the boat.  We didn’t see any dolphins for ages and then seven were spotted.  Apparently they sleep periodically during the day and come up for air and that is what out guide told us they were doing today.  I didn’t get any good photos, but Richard and Gavin got good photos and videos of them, such a lovely sight to see.

We saw quite a few sea lions on Seal Island and they are endangered in Australia, we saw lots of Pied Cormorants and spotted two Ospreys which again I saw through the binoculars but no really clear photos.  It was a great boat trip and the sea was so calm it suited me perfectly, we couldn’t have chosen a better day to visit.

Sea Lions

Pied Cormorants 

After the boat trip and while waiting for the ferry we walked around more of the island and saw loads of pelicans and I was so pleased I brought Richard’s binoculars along as saw so much more.  Gavin spotted two pelicans fighting in the distance and I could see them clearly with the binoculars.  We saw what we thought was an unusual, a cormorant was fishing in the shallows of the water and the seagulls were trying to steal its food.  We saw it actually catch and eat a fish but the camera was not on at the time!  We were all fascinated to watch.  There was another cormorant sitting on the rocks and not concerned about all that was going on around it.

Cormorant fishing close to shore

On the boardwalk

Looking for pelicans

Once back on the mainland we drove to Rockingham Foreshore and had a delicious lunch before driving back to Fremantle and popping into the market for a few bits and pieces.  Now for a rest this evening.