Saturday, February 4, 2012

Penguin Island

Its a small island situated off the coast southwest of Perth. Visitors are strictly prohibited from being on the island except during specified daylight hours from mid-September to early June. This means that only a small population of captive penguins can be viewed. However, there are many other sights including nesting seabirds and a 500-strong colony of pelicans.

Whats most interesting is the 700m long sand bar that links Rockingham(mainland) to the island itself.

On days with high tide, the sand bar is totally submerged.

However, on days with low tide, you can actually walk on it!!! Its around knee height at best.
However, the risk of being swept away by the tide is there. Coupled with the gust winds and unpredictable waves, its no wonder many sand-bar walkers lose their lives while attempting to walk to the island. haha.

For me, I'd rather pay a few dollars for the ferry ride over. LOL

The sand bar creates a stretch of shallow water in the area. This means that fish swimming from one side of the sand bar to the other will have to swim quite close to the surface of the water in order to cross over the bar.
Thus, its a perfect spot for birds-of-prey to hunt for their food.
The moment they see a fish near the surface, they will dive in to grab it.

Kite-boarders nearby having fun:

Weird looking building near the coast. Its actually a hotel.

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