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Having a Whale of a Time!
Passengers on last Saturday’s Dolphin Swim & Safari Cruises were treated to the unexpected bonus of encountering three humpback whales!
The group consisted of a mother and calf accompanied by a companion. Crew and passengers enjoyed a bonus 20 minutes of watching these magnificent creatures that were slowly cruising south about 500 metres to the west of Penguin Island. The whales are expected to be cruising close to shore off our coastline through to early December as they make their return back to Antarctic waters after the annual breeding & calving season in our warmer northern waters. Thanks to our passengers who sent in the great pics below.
See Rockingham’s wild dolphins featured on BBC’s ‘Ocean Giants’ documentary
For those who missed BBC’s brilliant documentary on whales and dolphins that aired in Perth on Channel 9 on Wednesday night, it featured some awesome footage of local dolphins ‘Zit’ & ‘Pimple’ hunting on the back of stingrays. This is a natural behaviour unique to the local dolphins that we regularly see during our Dolphin Swim Cruises. It’s well worth a look and apart from the amazing film of Zit stealing an octopus from the stingray, if you look carefully at the underneath of Zits tail you can clearly see that she was very pregnant at the time of filming. Since then she has had the calf, who is regularly sighted hunting on the stingrays alongside Zit. The calf has been named Bianca as she was born late January as cyclone Bianca passed over WA’s coastline.
Congratulations to Jennifer (age 11)
from Calista Primary!
Congratulations to Jennifer (age 11) from Calista Primary School has won her class a school excursion to Penguin Island for winning the ‘Face the Challenge Crossword’ competition. Great work Jennifer! We were thrilled to see a local school win the competition and look forward to taking your class on a great day out!
We will be offering the same prize again for next year’s competition so make sure you register school and get your students to complete the crossword!
Win your class a visit to Penguin Island!
Posted Thursday, 18th August, 2011
In support of National Bilby Day (September 11th, 2011), Rockingham Wild Encounters are giving you the chance to win your class a day out at Penguin Island. The prize is for a class of up to 30 students and includes ferry transfers, entry to the penguin feeding at the Discovery Centre and a 45 minute glass bottom boat cruise to explore the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park & view rare Australian Sea Lions. Entry is FREE and you could WIN some other great prizes including a Visit from a Live Bilby to Your School - wherever you are in Australia!
Register your school or organisation and download the crossword entry form online. The competition provides a wonderful research opportunity for students and will help to educate about our endangered Australian wildlife and the threats to survival they face. Young students are invited to colour in the images around the crossword and enter their work too! Entry is open to children aged 5 to 18 years. Competition commences July and closes 5th September 2011.
If you would like to support Save the Bilby Fund, your school or organisation could hold a fundraiser such as a Mufti Day or sell Bilby merchandise on School's Bilby Day Friday 9th September 2011 or National Bilby Day Sunday 11th September 2011.
Rockingham Wild Encounters is proud to support the Save The Bilby Foundation with this great initiative to prevent the extinction of one of Australia’s most iconic native species. If you would like more information on our range of school excursions to Penguin Island please visit http://dolphins.com.au/penguin-island-school-excursion-activities.html
New ‘Shoalwater Safari’ to replace the Dolphin Watch Eco- Adventure Cruise Options from September 15, 2011
Posted Friday, 17th June, 2011
Rockingham Wild Encounters is set to replace its popular range of Dolphin Watch cruise options with a new, action packed 90 minute cruise called the Shoalwater Safari.
The primary objective of this new cruise is to still all about watching wild dolphins in their natural habitat, however, it will also now take in all the other scenic and wildlife highlights of Shoalwater Bay including:
The fossilized remnants of ancient Tuart Forest in Aladdin’s Cave, Bird Island
Ospreys nest on Gull Rock
Rare Australian Sea Lions at Seal Island
The Pelican Rookery on Penguin Island
The Shoalwater Safari will also conclude on Penguin Island in time for the 12.30pm penguin feeding at the Discovery Centre and passengers can then catch the return ferry home to the mainland at their leisure.
Rockingham Wild Encounters Director Aaron Heath is excited about introducing this new cruise, ‘The Shoalwater Safari is still about the dolphin watching experience, however, after having our new boat operating from Shoalwater, our Dolphin Watch tour has naturally evolved to take in all the other fantastic wildlife and scenic highlights that the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park has to offer. Apart from the dolphins, sea lions and little penguins, we regularly see stingrays, ospreys, pelicans and any of over 16 species of sea birds that nest in the marine park. With so much wildlife, it seemed natural to do a ‘safari style’ cruise that makes the most of the opportunities on the day rather than just limiting the cruise to dolphin watching.’
The tour will still be operated onboard Rockingham Wild Encounters 12.5 metre rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB), ‘100% Wild’, which was purpose built for the Dolphin Watch cruise in 2009. ‘The guys who design these boats call them the 4 wheel drives of the sea and they are perfect for the type of expedition and wildlife viewing cruises that we do here in Shoalwater’ Aaron said. ‘The open design and forward facing seating ensures passengers get a great view and have a more direct connection with the environment. Rather than watching everything from behind a glass window, our passengers are right in the adventure- seeing the wildlife close up, feeling every thrill and experiencing the park first hand.’
Shoalwater Safari tours will commence September 15, 2011 when Penguin Island reopens to visitors at the conclusion of the penguin nesting season. For more information call Rockingham Wild Encounters on (08) 9591 1333 or click here for more information…
Penguin Island closed for the winter nesting season from June 6, 2011
Tuesday, 7th June, 2011
We close over the winter months of June, July, August & early September because it’s nesting season on Penguin Island. The little penguins lay 2 eggs and parents take turns sitting on the nest. While one parent sits on the eggs, the other goes to sea during the day to hunt for fish and they take turns doing this over the 35 days it takes to incubate the eggs. It takes around 24 hours for penguin chicks to break out of their shell. They are covered in black fluffy down, have their eyes closed and even though they are too weak to raise their heads, they are immediately hungry and start begging for food, usually only the strongest of the 2 chicks survives.
Parents share the babysitting duties for the first few weeks. The parent who goes out to hunt rushes back to the nest after dark to regurgitate the days catch into the beaks of their hungry chicks. At 2- 3 weeks, the chicks are left alone in the nest while both parents go out to fish. At 5 weeks, the chicks have adult feathers and will wander out of the nest at night to beg for food from any passing adult as they can’t recognize their parents. Luckily, the parents recognize the chicks unique call. At 8 -10 weeks the chicks have waterproof feathers and their parents stop feeding them. Hunger drives them to the sea in search of food. It takes time for them to learn to catch fish and only the strongest will survive.
As you can see, the nesting season is a tough time for little penguins. In a good year adults will repeat the breeding cycle and produce 2 clutches of eggs. To maximise the breeding success of the little penguins Penguin Island is closed to visitors at this critical time of year.
Ferries and cruises will resume from September 15, 2011. Although our offices are closed during this time, we check emails, fax and phone bookings and messages every Tuesday and Thursday so please feel free to contact us
We apologize for any inconvenience to visitors and look forward to seeing you next season.
