Monkey Mia

Wednesday 3rd June
After a somewhat late start to the day we went to Monkey Mia, some 28km away where we missed the feeding of the dolphins but were just in time for the departure of Aristocat 2, a 60 foot custom built sailing catamaran. The catamaran took us to the Blue Lagoon Pearl Farm, a small family operated business which produces around 4000 pearls a year. At the farm one of the owners gave us a detailed run down on pearl farming and showed us some of their product. A product which I have never seen before is the gold nugget implanted in a shell which then grows the pearl and produces a pearl encased gold nugget. The same is also done with Opal.
From the Pearl Farm we cruised to the sea grass areas where the Dugong reside. Although there are not many around this time of year, we managed to see a Dugong, a Turtle and some Dolphins.
While sailing back to the jetty the kids went into the "Boom Net" (see picture), which is attached to the stern and drags the occupants through the water while the cat is moving forward. Needless to say the kids loved it.
After our return to shore we had lunch and spent a little bit more time on the beach before returning to Denham. Tomorrow we'll try and get up early so we can go back to Monkey Mia and see the dolphins closeup for their feeding.