Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Our Shark Bay Holiday - Ocean Park Aquarium

Well, today has been cold, wet, and a real taste of winter (althought they are promising 28 degrees and sunny for Sunday), so I thought I'd look back at some warmer photos again.

This was the afternoon of Day 2. We went to visit a place called Ocean Park. I cannot speak highly enough of it. All the creatures are in open ponds and tanks that you can look in (except the stonefish!!). You join a group and go round in a circuit with a VERY knowledgeable guide, and you can go round as many times as you like.

All the creatures are captured in the local waters off the coast of the park, kept for a few months and then released - including the sharks. Check out these photos...these first ones are lemon sharks cruising just below the board walk we were on - the guide was dangling a fish head in.

This beauty below is a female tiger shark - about 3 metres long. She had been caught four days before and had not fed since. Apparently tiger sharks don't generally feed until about 10 days after capture. She had been circling the outside and then suddenly lunged for the fish head, grabbed it and shook until she snapped the fishing line!! Everyone cheered!

All the viewing tanks are open and the kids here were watching clown fish, starfish, and other local species from the reef. They even had some three year old loggerhead turtles - which you would never normally see because the stay out in the deep ocean until they come ashore to lay eggs.

A wonderful place to spend an afternoon.



1 comment:

  1. That's really cool that they only keep them for a short while then release them. Gets around the whole nastiness of caging (tanking?) wild animals but still encourages education and participation! School hols are over for me after this weekend - bliss!

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