Imagine

It’s such a shame that it took me another trip up to Nelson’s Bay to realize that I have not yet mentioned anything about one of the best days I had during my time in Australia. The trip got delayed a couple of times, but one sunny Sunday afternoon, I finally set sail on an imagine dolphin watch cruise. The boat had a capacity of at least 40 people. I actually thought it was even more, but I’m not too sure about that. However, with 40 or more people, the deck would be really full and it would probably be hard to actually spot the dolphins if you would happen to be on the wrong side of the boat. Lucky me, got on one of the last trips of the season, so there were only 10 people on board, which means I didn’t have to sit still, but that I could run around on the boat as much as I liked and get into the net up front, which was like a hammock just above the water, where you could enjoy the sun and be very close to the water (and so do the dolphins when they should up) at the same time. The one disadvantage of being in this position was that taking photo’s of the dolphins was really hard. They were too close to fit in the picture and when they swam a bit further off, they were just too quick. I’ll upload some photo’s I tried to take, but they probably won’t show much more than half a dolphin or just a fin. Luckily, a young German girl I talked to on the boat was kind enough to share her pictures with me. We might even be able to puzzle a whole dolphin out of it! Anyway, I loved spotting them and at least half a dolphin photo will still be a good reminder of seeing wild dolphins so close by.

After a goods hours boat-trip, where a supposedly famous face in the rocks that I just couldn’t find, was pointed out, we stopped near an abandoned rock beach to do the part of the trip that was at least just as good as watching dolphins: snorkelling. Getting into the comfortably warm water in the bay where the fish barely seem to notice your presence and the water is as clear as the water in a swimming pool would be felt like going into another world, peaceful and quiet and beautiful. Yet again did the beauty of Australia amaze me. An underwater camera would have been a very convenient gadget, because this trip did not only show me dolphins, but I got to see heaps of beautiful fish, gigantic stingrays, turtles and even a wobbegong shark. All surrounding me in the mind-blowing underwater-environment. I surely believe that there is much, much more to explore.