Exmouth, Australia 2026

     We anchored off Exmouth in Western Australia on February 18 after three days at sea.  We were supposed to spend February 16 in Broome but that turned out to be impossible.  We were eating breakfast that day when the first announcement came over the loudspeakers that we were having trouble docking.  The seas were pretty choppy and there was a good bit of wind but the Captain said that the main problem was that the city’s brand new floating dock (we were only the second or third ship to try to use it) was not working as expected.  It apparently was moving a lot in the wind and swells so that they couldn’t get a secure hold with the ropes.  He tried moving the ship up 100 yards but that didn’t fix the problem.  He said they probably would have to modify the design, but we haven’t found any indication on the internet since that this has happened.  We found a Broome facebook notice about the cancellation that attributed it exclusively to the weather, so who knows.  Anyway, missed ports happen and Broome was not a priority destination for us.  We were disappointed to find out afterwards, though, that HAL would not refund our port charges for the missed port as they had always done in the past.  Its hard to understand how they can justify keeping money charged to pay for something that didn’t happen.  At least it was not a lot of money.

     Exmouth is a tiny isolated town in an arid environment.  It has a population of about 2,800 but it is a resort town so during the tourist season (after April) it can swell to three or four times that size.  The biggest attraction in the area is the Ningaloo Reef, a 160 mile long coral reef that is unusually close to the shore (less than a third of a mile at some points).  The town was first established in 1964 to support a nearby US naval facility, although the area had been the site of American and Australian military defenses during World War II.  Looking out from the ship we saw a rocky brown shoreline with low boxy looking buildings behind it.

     In mid-morning we joined our friends Donna and Karen and tendered into the town.  There was a shuttle there that took us to the Ningaloo Center, a multi-purpose facility within walking distance of the center of town.  Among other things, we visited the Exmouth library that was located there, which is part of the Western Australia Public Library system headquartered in Perth.  From the outside it looks like a glass storefront, but it is quite nice inside.  This is the first public library we have seen that charges for an internet connection, and another first for us was a library where patrons have to be asked to keep their feet off the wall.

     The Ningaloo Center had meeting rooms, gift shops, tour companies offering excursions and more.  But the one thing there we spent some time at was their small but very nice aquarium full of local sea life.  It was all arranged very well and there were explanatory plaques with printing actually big enough to be easy to read.  A lot was aimed at kids, which is OK because the sea life was interesting for anybody.  Among other things they had jellyfish (including upside down jellyfish), a very nasty looking stonefish, coral banded shrimp, a pink skunk clownfish hiding among some bubble up anemone (we think), and a common lionfish (looking very uncommon).  These were all in separate small aquariums in a large room with other exhibits and some interesting historical stories on the wall.  Above this entire large room was an impressive whale sculpture made of wire hanging from the ceiling.  Unfortunately, the thin wires do not show up in the picture the way they did in person.

     Up some stairs there was a desert display with signs telling about that environment.  Animals in that area included a Black-headed Monitor and a Western Pygmy Bearded Dragon.  On the way up the stairs we passed a display of huge jellyfish (not real).

     After about an hour and a half here we looked over our instructions to find the other shuttle stop in the center of town, the only one where we could catch a shuttle back to the dock to return to the ship.  It was not a long walk but very hot.  We were hoping to see the giant prawn statue they have here (where else are you going to see something like that?) and we walked by the spot where it was supposed to be, but they had taken it down for the cyclone season.  Probably smart, but disappointing.  We did, however, pass the town’s “Big Whale Shark” sculpture, sitting right next to the main gas station in town (two other stations are further out of town) as we turned left to reach the shopping center that is the town center.  As we walked down this street from the Ningaloo Center we kept hearing raucous bird calls.  Looking up we saw cockatoos sitting in all the palm trees that line the street.  There seemed to be a pair in each tree, perhaps mating partners.  Here are pictures from our walk.

     The shuttle stop area in the center of town was a large shopping center with stores, restaurants and two IGA’s, along with a large parking lot.  These IGA’s seem to be the only grocery stores in town, so why would you build them in the same place?  We sat in the heat at an outdoor table for a while while Donna and Karen had something to eat (we decided to wait for lunch until back on the ship).  We ran into a couple more of our tablemates in this area, one of whom had spent the morning getting a cracked tooth fixed (turned out to be only a cracked crown).  We took the shuttle back to the port and tendered back to the ship where we had lunch and spent the afternoon on board.