Our guests, Dianne and Bob, left yesterday after spending a fortnight with us. We had a blast – we swam, we beach combed, we tried to catch some fish (unsuccessfully). We did some sight seeing, we went on some tours, we watched the full moon rise (staircase to the moon), and we watched the sun set over the ocean – many times.

And now the time has come for us to be leaving too. We’ve spent today packing up, and tomorrow will begin our journey for home.

We’ve enjoyed so many glorious sun sets on Cable Beach. Here’s a few of my favourites from this trip:

And who could forget the sun turning pink as it dropped through the smoke haze.

We played around with some silhouette photography.

We drove down onto the beach taking sunset drinks with us often. A few times we also took a simple dinner down to enjoy as we watched the sun sink over the horizon.

We had a particularly memorable dinner on the beach one Friday night. Our Friday tradition is to have finger food only – no knives or forks allowed. This was something we started years ago so as to get our week-ends off to a good start after the working week. It’s a tradition we enjoyed so much, that even now, four years after retirement, we still try and stick to it. Last Friday night with Dianne and Bob, we took the small gas burner down to the beach along with some chorizo, Halloumi, crackers, and sliced salad ingredients. What a treat to be sitting in our beach chairs on the damp sands of Cable Beach eating our finger food as the sun’s afterglow lit up the darkening sky.

Bob and Paul wandered down to the water’s edge, and clearly found something worth pointing out.

As the sun darkened further, a flock of seagulls took flight.

We stayed long after most people had left the beach. With the beach to ourselves it seemed like a good opportunity to have some silly fun in front of the camera, knowing full well our faces wouldn’t show up.

We’ve been up here for the better part of three months, and we’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The weather has been perfect with daytime temperatures of 28 – 33 degrees most days, dropping to 13 – 18 degrees overnight – perfect for sleeping. We haven’t had a drop of rain the whole time we’ve been here. The beaches have been delightful, but we found there’s a lot, lot more to Broome than just beaches. What a pleasure it’s been to be here.

And now I just hope some of the sun follows us home.

A  relatively new dolphin species, the Snubfin dolphin, wasn’t discovered in Australia until 2005. Most live in the Northern Australian waters, with only a few sightings of the species extending up as far as Papua New Guinea. No global population is known, however, the population is estimated to be extremely low, and is likely to be diminishing. Roebuck Bay, off the coast of Broome is a noted hot spot for the species with a population of less than 200.

Personal research indicates if care isn’t taken, the species may be gone in the blink of an eye with virtually only one generation having had the joy of knowingly witnessing this unique species of mammal.

Resembling the South East Asian Irrawaddy Dolphin, their blunt, rounded heads present a totally different looking marine mammal than the bottle nosed dolphin we’re familiar with in Australia. The neck is a distinct, functional feature that allows the animal to turn it’s head without turning it’s body.

They feed on fish, squid and crustaceans, and use a unique technique known as ‘spitting’ to catch fish. They will spit a metre or so in front of their prey, causing them to panic and change direction – often reversing direction straight back into the dolphins mouth.

We recently went out on an eco/dolphin tour with Cameron and his crew from Broome Whale Watching. The main purpose of the tour was to learn about, and see the unique Snubfin dolphin.

The species are found in groups averaging around five, but sometimes up to 15. As we headed out into Roebuck Bay in search of our main subject, Cameron’s commentary of Roebuck Bay gave us a good insight into the unique environment the Snubfin lives in. We came across a few other marine creatures, including a giant Mantaray, before a family group of nine Snubfins was spotted. This group was engrossed in having some ‘fun family time’, so we were able to drift in close to watch them at play.

When Snubfins socialise they form tight groups, and roll around interacting intensely with each other. They even blow ‘raspberries’ – true!!! At these times they seem oblivious to anything other than each other, making them particularly vulnerable to vessel strikes. The intensity of their play, shallow waters, and the high speed of boats means that the dolphins are unlikely to react in time to get out of the way of boats. In addition, the overlap between the dolphins foraging area and recreational fishing zones increases the risk of injury to these unique marine mammals.  In a recent study 63% bore the scars from vessel strikes, fishing nets, or fishing lines. The group we stopped and watched from a safe and respectful distance clearly showed some of the scars.

When playing they interact with each other very closely making them difficult to photograph with our little camera. That new camera  is rapidly changing status from being a ‘want’ to becoming a ‘need’, and will be with us very soon I should think.

Every so often the group would all dive together, seemingly giving us a united wave goodbye with their tails. It wouldn’t take long for them to surface again though, and Cameron would manoeuvre his boat around and drift in close allowing us to watch them a little longer.

Currently under Australian legislation, the Australian Snubfin Dolphin is simply listed along with other whales and dolphins. Reviewing and uplisting the current conservation status of the Snubfin to ‘threatened’ is imperative if we’re to avoid a repeat of reaching the recent extinction of the Yangtze river dolphin.

Thankfully we have tour operators like Cameron and his crew from Broome Whale Watching Tours who care about these creatures and the environment they live in. Their livelihood depends on it.  I personally would love to see a slight increase in tour operators, and commercial fishing charters, and a significant decrease in individual motor boat and jet skis operators. Some people would disagree, believing the charter boat operators to be unscrupulous. Possibly some can be, but their livelihood depends on the environment and it’s creatures remaining healthy.  My gut feeling is there are enough Australian operators with an eye on conservation and the sustainability of eco tourism to keep the unscrupulous operators in line.

If the tour operators can stimulate their client’s interest, they increase the chances of the masses aiding any future conservation efforts. My interest was certainly stimulated. They’re amazing creatures, unlike any other dolphin I’ve seen before.  I hope my great-grandchildren also get to see them.

A morning out on the turquoise waters of Roebuck Bay, watching Snubfin Dolphins at play – what a pleasure.

There’s always something different to see when walking on the beach. Here’s some of the things we’ve seen whilst walking on Cable Beach:

Then there’s rocks to walk around:

There’s planes:

And boats:

And birds:

And birds flying over boats:

And then there’s the things we haven’t managed to photograph. Birds circling as they look for fish and then, wings tucked in to create a streamlined body as they dive, whoosh!  into the water trying to catch their lunch. Sometimes they’re successful, most often they’re not. There’s whales, now off Broome’s coast line. We’ve spotted a few breaching and blowing reasonably close to shore.

There’s always something different to see, but unfortunately our current camera isn’t up to the job of capturing some of the images. A new camera is on our list. Paul does a reasonable job with our little Lumix, but when he gets the new camera with the bigger zoom, and all the other whiz bang things it has, I’m sure his photographs are going to be awesome. He has his eye on a Lumix DMC-FZ300, but it’s currently still in research mode – any advice will be greatly appreciated either for, or against. Please feel free to leave your comments below…….

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