Rockingham Wildlife Encounters
Welcome to Shoalwater Islands Marine Park. Rockingham Wildlife Encounters offers various tours within the marine park. We chose the Dolphin, Penguin and Sea Lion Adventure Cruise.
The shoalwater limestone reef acts as a protective barrier against oceanic swells moving towards the shoreline. The limestone islands are important nesting and roosting habitat for seabirds such as cormorants, pelicans, crested terns and gannets. The Australian sea lion (found only in southern Australia) bask on the shores of Seal Island or Penguin Island. Penguin Island, home to the little penguins, is open for tours from mid-September to early June.
The shoalwater limestone reef acts as a protective barrier against oceanic swells moving towards the shoreline. The limestone islands are important nesting and roosting habitat for seabirds such as cormorants, pelicans, crested terns and gannets. The Australian sea lion (found only in southern Australia) bask on the shores of Seal Island or Penguin Island. Penguin Island, home to the little penguins, is open for tours from mid-September to early June.
Reference: parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au
We boarded the adventure boat and our knowledgeable guide provided a running commentary throughout the tour.
We were looking for dolphins while cruising around the marine park. We had not spotted any dolphins so our guide took us to Bird Island.
Pied cormorants and darters watched us from the safety of the island. We were given an opportunity to examine the fossilized remains of ancient tuart forests.
Dave photographed a pied cormorant watching us from a safe distance in the water
Seal Island is home to the Australian sea lion. There are no seals here. This island is inhabited by male sea lions only. They spend most of their time on this island and they travel to a northern island inhabited by female sea lions only for mating purposes.
Sea lions playing.
Just veggin' and sunnin'.
Young folks here get an early start playing on the ocean. This photograph was taken by an island that is 1 to 2 km from the mainland.
Cruising around we had our first dolphin sighting, followed by more dolphins.
The guide told us that these dolphins (below) have gouges on their fins from shark attacks.
We returned to Penguin Island and did another little tour of the island before heading back to the mainland. (See March 5, 2020 post for our day with the Little Penguins).
Penguin Island has a restricted bird sanctuary area for their pelican breeding colony.
