Day 63 - Cape Leveque

Justin had the foresight to book a beach hut for our three night stay here, and it is fabulous. We are right on the small cliff edge at the beach.


The view to the left.....

 

and the right. At high tide the water is up to the bottom of the sandstone rocks in the foreground.

 

There are plenty of shells in the shelter, so the girls set up shell shops.

 

We got to the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm by the required 9am ready for all but me to do the tour. I relaxed in the little oasis having a coffee or two and updating the blog. George and Lexie weren't stimulated by the pearl grading discussion at the end of the tour, so they came out to me early. I bought them a mango and vanilla milkshake, and they shared the biggest wedge of cheesecake ever seen. They were unable to finish it. Justin and Phoebe had a go at their shared piece of cheesecake, and finished it. TheY all enjoyed the tour, I would recommend it even if you aren't interested in pearls. We both had our boat rides with Cameron, the head diver, originally from Scotland. He likes to go fast in the boat, which adds a bit of spice to the tour.

The amphibious boat below, made by Sealegs, means Cameron can show off at the boat ramp. While others fluff about removing the boat from the trailer, etc, he is in the water and speeding off, using his 150 horsepower outboard.

 

This is where the oysters have their shells cleaned for maximum health. They are put through a purpose built dishwasher then any hard substances chiselled off. This team of three work 10 hour days on the boat, breaks are even taken here. Apparently they have a stereo playing loudly to drown out the boredom

 

You can just make out the oyster racks hanging three metres below the surface. This is considered a small farm, producing 70,000 pearls a year. This includes all grades of pearl. They have 140,000 oysters in the water, they take two years to produce a decent pearl. They get xrayed before opening to check it is worth their while.

On our return, I saw a gladwrapped parcel that looked like uncooked scones. Our neighbours, now departed, left us some American marshmallows. They are huge and look doughy. We spent the afternoon swimming out from our hut, as the tide was now in. Whilst snorkelling Phoebe and Justin saw two stingrays. Nick and family joined us later in the afternoon. We invited them to come back to our hut for a fire after dinner. After our Thai beef salad and fruit, we cooked both types of marshmallow over the coals. The American ones aren't as sweet. After the O' Brien family left I cooked scones for morning tea the next day, as I didn't want to waste the hot coals.

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