A full moon in Broome

14 July

There’s a phenomenon here in Broome known as “staircase to the moon” which only happens on a full moon, at the lowest tides and in the dry season.  The best viewing point is from the Town Beach overlooking Roebuck Bay.  Wow, this was one popular place last night!  They run a night market with crafts, jewellery and food stalls and it’s a very festive atmosphere.  We met up with the couple from Ballarat whom we met a week ago and had “happy hour” on the grass as darkness fell.  When the moon started to rise it was huge, orange and full and reflected across the sand flats of Roebuck Bay which were obviously still wet from the receding tide.  It did look like a staircase and was quite beautiful. 

 

This is exactly what we could see in the darkness, although the moon was orange.

  

This morning we did our cruise with Broome Whale Watching and what a highlight that was.  We actually saw some whales!  I know they guarantee they’ll find whales, but until you really see one it’s hard to imagine.  It was magic being out there on the ocean in those turquoise waters.  After maybe half or ¾ of an hour, we spotted a whale.  How exciting was that.  It did a few dives into the water then we actually saw it breach, not too far away!  It was the most beautiful, unexpected sight.  We hung around for quite some time with a few sightings of this whale, then headed further north where the skipper had seen signs of others further out (tail fin hitting the water).  We had quite a period of time where nothing much happened – we’d see a whale blow or splash but then it wouldn’t re-appear for us; but then there was activity out on the horizon so we headed that way and saw 2 whales diving in tandem.  Then a great display of tail fin splashing and diving.  I’ve never seen a whale before so it was a fantastic experience.

"Seahorses!" Phil announced to everyone within earshot

 

This evening we returned to Cable Beach for another dose of sunset, then had barramundi and chips for tea before heading over to Roebuck Bay for a second dose of the full moon doing its thing.  With no cloud cover it was even better than last night.