Friday, June 11, 2010

Today we took a morning flight over Shark Bay, in a little 8-seater plane.  We were the only passengers, once we dropped off a guy who'd just flown in and needed a ride to Useless Loop.  This tiny spot on the map had no airport, it was just a dirt airstrip and not a building in sight.  I wondered why the landing was so bumpy until I realized we were on dirt.  Our pilot was very, very young, looked to be about 14, but I'm sure he was probably at least 19.  The owner of the company and the pilot met us at the Shark Bay airport, and she said the pilot was "brand new."  Not sure if she meant brand new to the company or to puberty.  And while I've gotten used to hearing Aussies say "no worries" it's a little disconcerting when the pilot says it while he's fiddling with the airplane instruments.

But everything went fine and we flew low enough to see some dolphins swimming by.  This is a pic of the cliffs.

We had a little beach front villa at this resort, and just down the beach a short ways is where the dolphins   come in every day to get fed.  You can go out as far as your knees and let the dolphins swim around you, but you're not allowed to touch them.

There were some big pelicans hanging around too, hoping to get some fish from the rangers.