Dolphins at Sandpatches
I frequently go out to Sugarloaf Rocks and check to see if the dolphins in the bay north of Sugarloaf (called Sandpatches) are there.
It seems to be a pod that are resident in that bay, and they love to surf. When there are reasonable sized waves (2m) often you will see the whole pod surfing. They ride the wave in close to the shore break, then do a tumble turn and leap out of the back of the wave. Today was typical.
Dolphin soccer
Well nearly. I went out to Sandpatches again yesterday and my favourite dolphin pod was there playing in the surf, leaping out of the water, and what appears to be hunting fish.
At one stage I thought a dolphin had caught a fish and had it in its mouth, shaking it. However when I photographed the dolphin it turned out to be a piece of seaweed. The dolphin (or maybe more than one was involved – very hard to tell) was catching it, throwing it up in the air, and chasing after it. They seemed to be having a lot of fun.
Here are some images.
This first image shows the piece of seaweed flung into the air by the dolphin.
There’s one in every crowd! The dolphin with a seaweed wig!
Here he is playing with the seaweed.
He has thrown it into the air again.
And again it is thrown into the air.
The dolphin(s) was obviously playing some game with the seaweed. Very curious!
Meelup surf
We have had some pretty wild weather lately – lots of rain, wind etc. The conditions made it unsuitable for surfing for most on the west coast, but in the bay it was different. The swell came around the corner and created some good fun surfing conditions. It was very popular – Pt Picquet carpark was full.
I shot this image of Meelup. Unusually large surf for Meelup, and the young girl and her dog running to get to the surf conveyed the atmosphere very well.
The second shot taken around the corner at Gannet Rock looking towards Castle Rock in the distance shows the conditions.
Yallingup Beach
Its hard to think of a better place to go to in the morning to enjoy a cup of coffee looking out over the lagoon and surf break. Yallingup is regarded as the birthplace of surfing in the South West. Many of those who pioneered surfing in this area in the 50s and 60s have subsequently retired to this area and surf this area daily. 
In this image I was trying to capture an image that was instantly recognisable as Yallingup, and these trees in the foreground are the essence of Yallingup.
Dolphins at Windmills
Windmills is the name of the surf break just north of Sugarloaf Rock. There were several large groups chasing small fish. Whenever a nice wave appeared they all went for a surf.
A crowded wave
Dolphins hunting
This morning over 100 dolphins were hunting in a bay just north of Sugarloaf Rock. They were well organised, and herded schools of fish towards the shore before attacking them. When they were close to shore they often burst out of the back of the surf leaping high into the air. Here are some examples.
Wyadup sunset
Very often sunsets here fizzle out due to a large band of cloud that forms over the horizon. Last night looked promising, so I went down to Wyadup. At the last minute a small band of cloud appeared on the horizon, and this prevented the sunset from developing into a full blown knock your socks off sunset, but it was pretty good.
The shore along this stretch is interesting. Over summer the sand will build up, and this whole area becomes a sandy beach. Most of these rocks are either covered by sand or partly covered. Then during winter the storms wash it all away again and the cycle starts over again.
