The Splash – DHI Part 7

The cliffs were an adventure. Tall and terrifying, but once I got over my fear, they weren’t that bad. I found the trip surprisingly fun, but a small knot of residual height-fear sat in my chest, so for a change we spent a day at the homestead.

We were blasted awake in the early morning, blinded in our beds by the glaring sun. A quick look out the window and we had already decided what to do today. Blue skies, not a cloud in sight, still ocean, not a gust of wind. The water attractive, glistening like glass, the perfect weather for a kayak adventure.

We were ready for this new exploit, it was something different from what had become the usual, sightseeing adventure. I skipped with excitement all the way from our shack to the homestead, only to turn around and see just one person following.

“Where is everyone?” I asked Mum as she walked towards me.

“They went back to bed.”

“Why?” I asked.

“They’re lazy.” The short conversation ended abruptly.  My face drooped as I turned back toward the kayaks, for once I felt sad at the sound of Grace and Audrey not coming.

We swept the cobwebs off and rinsed away the dirt. The kayaks had obviously not been used recently, judging by how deeply they were buried into the sand. Within moments we were out on the water, gliding with ease across it’s tranquillity. Not a gust of wind or a hint of swell, the water was like glass, like there was nothing between me and the beauties beneath.

We headed south. The tide was high so we could squeeze across the sand bar that connects Bird Island to the beach.

A something flew past beneath me, a small silver reflection caught my eye through the glass at the bottom. I looked down, something else flew past, and another, and another. A school of fish were swimming away from the kayak, faster than I could make out their shapes. I guessed they were whiting by the amount you see near the homestead.

We kept paddling, around the corner to where the sand turned into rock. Below was a reef, clams and colourful coral, filled with life. It felt as if I was in a movie, fish were buzzing around everywhere, it was like an underwater kingdom.

We continued our adventure and kept heading south. Each bay was small compared to the homestead’s one, in fact, they were tiny, barely big enough to call bays. Each were different in some way, one a reef, the next a rocky shore, another a dugong paddock. We hadn’t gone far but we had seen a lot in the few bays that we had passed.

The next bay was another reef, only bigger and better than the last. Once again the life beneath was a spectacular sight, but this time we weren’t as interested in the coral below.

A large splash blew off to our left, a few metres away from Mum. A split second later, another blew slightly closer, the sound of something leaping out of the water. We both quickly looked over in awe, ripples flowed towards us but nothing else was happening. We couldn’t see anything in the water, for once, through the crystal clear liquid, there was nothing.

We paddled closer to where the splash had happened. The clear water still disturbed by the splash, enough that we couldn’t see anything clearly. Mum and I were still in awe, wondering what could possibly have jumped to make such a large splash. We had no idea, other than it being a fish, but that wouldn’t make sense because there were no fish around big enough for such an impact. We started giving up, we couldn’t see anything, we couldn’t imagine anything, so we started paddling again.

But of course there’s an extremely predictable cliché. A few seconds later, another flash of light came through the glass bottom. I immediately looked down, this time managing to see what the creature was.

A large black back, a long and straight tail, two massive wings powering it through the water. Each wing stretching almost a metre from its body… Manta!

I watched it swim away, the massive creature creating a wake as it sped just below the surface of the water. I saw it dive below Mum’s kayak, a second later to fly out of the water right next to Mum. It launched itself into the air, more than three metres, like it used its wings to fly.

Time seemed to slow, a split second felt like a minute while the giant creature defied gravity, gliding above the water.

A second later Mum was drenched. The massive ray landed again, sending water straight into Mum. Astonished but soaked, the joy of seeing the amazing sight left her shocked, not caring about being so wet. For a minute, at least.

Then, in her invigorated joy, she turned on me. I didn’t even have time to close my gaping mouth, before Mum filled it with sea water from one good splash of her paddle! Laughing, cool and now ravenous, we headed back to the homestead for breakfast and boasting.

 

P.S. There are no photos to go with this post as we could not bring the camera along with us on our trip across the water.

P.P.S Because there were no photos I thought of adding a different photo, just to give this post a bit more to look at. I chose this photo because it is water, and it is the closest photo to what it looked like that I have. Just picture the water clear as crystal and sparkling blue.Sunset At Back Beach

This photo was taken by me at the Back Beach in Kalbarri on 22/10/16.

Please no plagiarism.

4 thoughts on “The Splash – DHI Part 7

  1. Hi I am John from Mrs Kriese’s class in Texas. Going to the cliffs sounds really fun and if I ever go to Australia I will see if I could go.

  2. Hello! This is Steven from Mrs. Kriese’s class in Texas. Your adventure sounded very exciting! I have never gone kayaking before, but it seems fun.

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