Baird Bay and Coffin Bay

1/3/2015

Very early start today, before dawn to get on the road when the sun rises. I drove down to Baird Bay to one of the absolute highlights of anything that I have ever done. On the way through the Nullarbor, somewhere on a lonely parking lot at the Cliffs, I met a couple from the East Coast and had a lengthy chat with them. Aside other things, they highly recommended to check out the tour in Baird Bay – swimming with wild Sea Lions and Dolphins. Going that way anyway, it didn't take much to get me convinced. Thanks to that couple I could experience something very special today: being in the water with these amazing, wild sea mammals and checking them out and being as close as you can get.

Swimming with wild dolphins was always magical so far (both in Bunbury and Rockingham) but the setup today was even better: the visibility was quite good, a pod of huge bottle-nose dolphins came very close and at a later swim a female dolphin with her young and we were free snorkeling. Listening to the clicking and whistling sounds underwater is great, and seeing them swim graciously and effortless through the water is amazing. Unfortunately the dolphins were not very interested in us today and, after doing a few laps around us, turned and swam way.

Two of the ones we swam with!

The little one had a good nap!

Finally - a sea eagle, but far away and ...

... in questionable light and from a rocking boat ('excuse of the day'!)

Frantic departure

BUT, swimming in the shallow waters next to an island with the sea lions was absolutely off the charts. They were extremely playful, motivated, engaged and interested in having fun with our small group – as if we were toys that they play with. Unbelievable how maneuverable they are and how quick. At times I was surrounded by up to 8 sea lions – from little ones only half a year old to quite big ones, at times there were only one or two and sometimes a few more. They came very close, some were even touching me gently. We were a small group of only 7 adults and 2 kids and I spent at least 1,5 hours in the water having fun, watching closely and swimming with these lovely sea mammals – the thick long arm wet-suit was a great idea!

How many years of Yoga and Stretching would I have to do to get to that pose?

Clearly showing off

Chilled out colony with a young traveller

After returning to the shore, I enjoyed a cappuccino and a chat at their main building to gain some more insights and warm up a bit. Alan and Trish Payne, who run this business, are originally from Western Australia and they have been doing this tour for more than 20 years. It took a few years to gain the trust of these wild animals so that they come and interact with the humans. The adult sea lions sometimes leave the young ones to play with the humans without parental supervision. Alan & Trish teach participants a lot of important knowledge about nature and the oceans, like that plastic bags in the sea are one of the largest killers of marine life, and are educating whoever is doing this trip. They are not hugely advertising it and keep the group sizes small and the tours quite infrequently so that they don't disturb the natural habitat too much. Amazing people and a fantastic experience that I highly recommend to everybody that wants to experience wild sea mammals in their natural habitat.

Absolutely spellbinding!

The Ocean's Deadliest Predetor

one very happy Austrian in Baird Bay

After the Baird Bay OceanEco Experience, I visited 'Murphy's Haystack' – an unusual rock formation not far from Baird. The formation of these very old Hiltaba Granite rocks took a very long time and walking along the trail was great and made for some nice photographs.

Back on the Flinders Highway, I drove quite a while to get to Coffin Bay, the stop for the night. The west side of the Eyre Peninsula is very dry during this season – the landscape looking arid and a bit like in Greece but then changing quite a bit as well.

Coffin Bay

I treated myself to some grilled fish (local Whiting) and chips, a self made cucumber salad with capsicum and cheese and some chocolate – the long time in the cold water and the long drive grew my appetite to epic proportions.

Distance traveled: 323km