Coral Bay/Exmouth, Western Australia

     Exmouth is on the western coast of Australia and sits in the tropics, 21 degrees south of the equator. We had the opportunity to spend a week there collecting data on small giant clams for a week, totally of the grid, with no internet access.  With a permanent population of about 200 residents, the are is quite quiet and fairly unpolluted.  The air is so clean and the skies at night are so clear we were able to see Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Saturn in addition to hundreds of thousands of stars. The sky was so brightly illuminated by the moon you didn't even need a flashlight to see in the dad of night. 

     Our first day and night was spent in Coral Bay, where we snorkeled out to see an 8,000 year old coral reef, and swam among parrotfish, butterflyfish, triggerfish, and many notable other reef fish species like those we have in Hawai'i.  Unlike the dire situation currently imjpacting the Great Barrier Reef, the Ningaloo Reef is healthy and thriving.  As the largest fringing reef in the world, it is of critical importance to sustaining the marine ecosystems of NW Australia.  On a tour with Ningaloo Interactions there, we swam with manta rays, a tiger shark that got spooked and swam quickly away, humpback whales out in the open waters, and they took us on a guided snorkeling tour of a few reefs where we saw black tipped reef sharks, white tipped reef sharks, grey reef sharks, blue spotted eagle rays, tens of sea turtles, an octopus, an eel, and an abundance of reef fish and corals.  Once up in Exmouth, when driving through the Cape Range National Park to our study site locations for clam research every day, we saw almost everything Australia is known for; dingos, roos, echidnas, emus, even two sheep!  By far one of the funniest and most amazing experiences was seeing wild boxing kangaroos.  Yes.  Literally.  Boxing.  Kangaroos.  Two roos just having at it in a brawl with their flying fists and kicks, one of the coolest and most Aussie things imaginable.

     The fact that we had no outside connections or obligations made the week long excursion even more incredible.  We spent nearly all day every day in the sun, watching the sun rise or set every day, visiting some amazing Marine Protected Areas and should-be famous snorkeling sites like Oyster Stacks, where we saw a few jellyfish floating around, not even to mention the other amazing sites.

     Overall, this one week was the most influential and best part of the entire trip, and is something I will remember for the rest of my life.  If I ever return to Australia, this is one place I dare not miss.  My decision to study abroad has been one of best I have ever made, and I haven't quite made many of those.  I want to find more opportunities to study abroad for marine science and studies now more than ever.