Much to everyones’ surprise and delight diners at Hervey Bay’s best cafe were treated to something very rare and very special yesterday. As the tide was going out four dugongs came in quite close the water’s edge right in front of the cafe and one actually pulled itself partly up onto the sand bank that forms in front of Aquavue as the tide is going out.
Unfortunately we were so surprised by out visitors that we missed the opportunity to photograph them.
At one time dugongs were quite common along the coast all the way from Brisbane to the Great Barrier Reef by these days it’s quite rare to see one even though we do seem to have a small population around Hervey Bay and the Sandy Straight.
To see four together and have one actually do more than just poke its head out of the water was something very special.
If you want to find out more about these marine mammals that are more closely related to elephants than anything else then visit this page at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s website
