Penguins and Diving - Week 4 of Classes - March 12-18, 2007

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Penguin Island!!
This week Monday was a bit out of the ordinary - I had a field trip! With my Nature-Based Tourism class, I headed down to Rockingham where we boarded a boat for Penguin Island! My stomach was relieved to see that the island was so close you could swim there. First, though, we went on a little boat tour around the area and saw some Sea Lions, Pelicans, and even some dolphins! (Couldn't get a good picture of the dolphins, they move too fast). Then we went onto the little island.

First we went to the Penguin exhibit where they have 10 little penguins that they keep in captivity. The reason for this is to ensure that people who come to a place called "Penguin Island" actually get to see some penguins! Out in the wild they shy away from people and nest far from the path - so the odds of seeing them out there are very small. But if you walk slowly, you can see tons of birds nesting in the low bushes of the island. The island was also a fantastic swimming spot. On one side the water is calm, because it is so shallow between the island and the mainland. On the other side, it is the wild ocean. Absolutely beautiful. We only got to spend a short amount of time on the island. The ferry makes its last trip at 4pm, and there are no food vendors on the island to discourage long stays. This is to minimize the impact on the nesting birds.

We had a talk from a ranger about all of this. We also got the chance to take a walk around the island, which doesn't take very long because it is very small. Then we headed back on the ferry to our bus.

Routine
The rest of the week was not too exciting. The funniest thing was on Wednesday when we had oral presentations for my Water Auditing class. The prof made us all select a 'chairperson' who would introduce us when we make our presentations. The presenters even had to write a little bio for the chairperson to read! When I was chairperson I decided to play up the ridiculousness and add that my presenter liked long walks on the beach. He added that indeed, he did like them! My presentation will be next week. I'm doing an on-campus water audit, and the Environmental Officer hadn't gotten back to me in time to have my presentation ready for this week. Turns out I will be auditing, among others, the Executive Dean of Arts! Not only that, but when I wandered into the building I would be auditing, unsure of its inhabitants (since not even the head custodian knew that), the Executive Dean himself came out to ask me if I needed guidance! Then his assistant took me on a tour of the building. Now, will the Dean be humble enough to record how many times he uses the toilet in one day?

Scuba Course, Take 2
Alright so Saturday and Sunday I decided to give a second go at getting my Scuba certification. I joined in on a class already in progress, since I had referral papers from Cairns. It was a nice small group, run by Gus, a prof and member of the Murdoch Underwater Divers club (MUD), the club I'd done Clean Up Australia Day with. Also in the group was Shaun, a fellow Canadian who I almost lived with...ah, the stresses of Orientation Week...

Anyways, Saturday we headed to the Swan River, which is the river that cuts through Perth and heads into the outback (it probably dies before it gets there, I don't really know). Mmm...river diving...Bad visibility, lots of gross gross jellyfish (luckily they don't sting)...Unfortunately there was a REALLY strong current, so it was a physically draining dive. We completed a bunch of skills, but decided to save dive numbers 3 and 4 for the next day.

Sunday we went to the Ocean instead, to a nice spot called Woodman Point. It was really gorgeous, and the storm that the weather forecasters had been predicting was totally absent. All in all, I didn't get out of the water for about 2 hours! We did 2 dives, although there wasn't really a break in between, we just had skills that involved coming to the surface, so technically we went down twice. But since the water wasn't very deep (deepest spot was just over 9m) we didn't go through air quickly, and our nitrogen levels were kept low.

And we finished the course! I did it, I'm CERTIFIED!!!

So at that point we all still had air left - not a lot, but some. So we all went for mini-dives (we really could have been snorkelling, we were just barely below the surface) along the jetty. It was AMAZING, just floating along...there were SO many fish, and the best way to spot them is to just hover there, looking closely. They have pretty amazing camouflaging technique!

So now I'm ready to go off as a certified diver...For my NorthWest trip at the beginning of April, I'll be heading to Coral Bay, which is a Coral Reef with even more fish species than the Great Barrier Reef! Hopefully I'll get to spend time looking at them, instead of just throwing up on them...

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Photos

Dafne at the Rockingham Beach
Penguin Island is right behind my head - very close to the mainland.

BIRDS!!
They're not penguins, although they look very similar

The open ocean
In contrast to the other side of the island, which is shallow and near the coast, this side was wild, as it faces the open ocean!

Dive Spot on the Swan River
Watch out for boats!

I'm CERTIFIED!!
Man, those wetsuits are SO unflattering...

Comments

[Pauline]

Penguin Island
Dafne- This just may be Heaven- It is so beautiful! Hugs

[Anana]

Yeah! Congrats on the certification. What are those other birds called - black and white, on the shore with the pelican? By the way, who took the photo of u strolling? A little on the tilted side... keep having a blast!

[aiden]

fun. i just read the whole thing 'cause i was procrastinating. i REALLY need to travel. sheesh. sounds like a cool place.