Jackson speared his first fish at Steep Point!

Steep Point, WA

Tuesday 1^st – Friday 4^th November

After finalising the packing (there’s so much to remember when we leave the caravan!) and dropping the caravan off at Hamelin Pool we began what we’d been told would be a long, rough drive with most people that we spoke to saying it would take us between 3-4 hours to get to Shelter Bay (where we were camping). As luck would have it, the road was in the process of being graded, so that, along with Daniel’s experience driving on sandy tracks, meant we made it out there in only 2 hours. It was an extremely windy afternoon/evening and Shelter Bay provided no shelter so the tent ended up full of sand! It was a rough night’s sleep listening to the tent flap around furiously in the wind. I awoke to find the wind had managed to unzip the lower section of the window in front of me, so I had icy cold wind and fine grains of sand blowing on me!

Thankfully we awoke to much better weather. We went out to explore the cliffs, and to get our photo at the most westerly point on the Australian mainland- Steep Point. We watched a few of the experienced fisherman fishing off the cliffs before exploring some of the bays on the way back to camp. We found a nice, tucked away bay with some rocky areas that the boys decided to explore with the speargun, whilst Emilia and I went for a swim in the crystal clear water. That afternoon the boys went for another dive nearer to camp and by the end of the day they’d got a big Mulloway, a Sweetlip and a Mullet.

Later that afternoon we went for along beach walk and the kids showed me the many starfish they’d found. There was some very stormy weather in the days prior to us coming to Steep Point and it seems that heaps of starfish were left stranded high up on shore. Unfortunately, most had died by the time we got there, but we saved any showing signs of life. One section was like a starfish graveyard, they were everywhere.

On Thursday two very memorable events happened – it was an exciting day:

Memorable event no. 1- Jackson speared his first fish! He was beside himself with excitement as he proudly showed me the large Sweetlip he’d shot. Daniel had spent a good few hours training him over the few days (he ended up with a large bruise on his tummy from reloading the gun so many times!), but the time had paid off. Jackson has spent so much time in the water with Daniel watching and learning and he’d been itching to get his own fish, which made the catch even sweeter.

Here's Jackson’s recollection of the event in his own words… ‘I was freezing cold as we’d been in the water trying for a long time and I was ready to give up. I decided to have one more go then we saw a big Sweetlip! I kept lining the shot up and I hoped for the best when I pulled the trigger (Dad was helping me hold the speargun as it’s really long and heavy). I GOT IT! I got a good head shot so I didn’t mess up our fillets! I felt really happy.’

Memorable event no. 2- Two Manta Rays swam under the paddleboard whilst Emilia and I were on it! We’d taken advantage of the calm conditions to paddleboard out in the bay, we hadn’t seen much (even though the water was like glass, and you could see clearly to the bottom) so we headed over to a rocky area and Emilia went for a snorkel. On our way back to camp we spotted some dolphins, so I paddled out to get closer to them – they were much faster and by the time I decided to stop we were quite far out from shore! On the way back in we were going much slower (my arms were getting tired) when I spotted 2 large black shapes in the distance. I couldn’t recall there being any rocks in that area so we started paddling in that direction, hoping they were stingrays. As we paddled towards the shapes, they started moving towards us. Suddenly I realised they weren’t just any stingrays, they were Manta Rays. One was at least 3 meters wide, and the other (the baby we think) was between 1.5-2m. They were quickly approaching and were gliding along very close to the surface, continually flicking their ‘wings’ up. I yelled out to Emilia to kneel down and hold on as they glided right under the paddleboard! It was amazing to be that close to them. Once I’d regained my composure I started paddling as fast as I could to keep up with them. We managed to stay within about 5 meters of them for around 15 minutes, watching in wonder as the mother did something (flick up her wing, swim to one side etc) then the baby copied. Daniel and Jackson just happened to be kayaking back at that point, so they were able to see the majestic rays too. It was certainly a once in a lifetime experience.

By the time we turned back the wind had picked up and it was a long, tedious paddle back to camp. We dropped the kids off and they walked (to lighten the weight) though it was still a massive effort from Daniel and I to get back. We’d been out for over 2.5 hours so no wonder we were exhausted! The experience was worth every sore muscle though.

That evening we enjoyed the sunset from the top of the cliffs before all falling into bed, exhausted after all the excitement from the day.

The cliffs at the most western point were incredible.

Below are the obligatory photos with the Steep Point sign. Since we were here last time they've changed the sign (the old wooden one had so much more character!).

They got up easily but had a bit of trouble getting down!!

The big Mulloway they got- it was delicious.

The haul from Wednesday.

Filleting on the beach in front of our camp - you could see over to Dirk Hartog island.

Our tent was just behind the scrub, only a few steps out to the beach.

Getting ready for our paddleboard, with no idea we would end up paddling with Manta Rays!

Emilia got this photo of 2 giant clams whilst I floated around on the paddleboard (see below).

Jackson beaming with pride with the Sweetlip he shot - the first fish he has got using the speargun. Not bad for a 9 year old!!

Following in his footsteps..Daniel was super proud of Jackson's success too.

By the time I took this photo he was saying 'no more, my arms are too tired to hold the fish and speargun anymore'. 

Some of the many starfish washed up at one of the bays.

This one had dried out up standing up.

The photos below are all from the last night when we went to the cliffs at the most westerly point and watched the sun set over the Indian Ocean.

Emilia did a great job getting this panorama shot with my phone.

We'd turned pink in the dusk light!