Oct 2011 - still seeing dugong regularly gently feeding as we cruise past....

Sept 2011 - still seeing our wonderful dugong very regularly over the last couple of months.  They are normally in a small herd of 2 to 4 and sometimes mothers with mid-sized calves.  Although there have been many many deaths of dugong along the east coast of Australia due to seagrass die-off after floods and cyclones this year, the dugong of Pumicestone Passage seem to be thriving OK so fingers crossed the future looks bright for them in these protected waters.

March 2011 - sightings are still being experienced regularly of these wonderful gentle creatures and we have even seen a baby over the last month - only a couple of months old.  So we are thrilled to know they are breeding and hope the effect of the January floods will not impact their sea grass beds too much up in this area.

January 2011 - although sightings of our wonderful dugongs have been irregular over the last couple of months, we are still seeing them on occasion.   We are keeping a close eye on water quality after the recent flood event in Brisbane & surrounds which has seen a huge amount of sediment and pollution end up in the waterways.  We are hoping they will be able to survive and their sea grass beds will not be overlay damaged due to lack of sunlight or pollution.  Pumicestone Passage is still open for fishing and swimming and although the water is a brown colour, it has not been deemed unsafe and we hope this is also the case for our dugongs.

September 2010 - still seeing this wonderful creatures regularly - almost every trip - and we have a couple of spots we are seeing them regularly.  Weather being mirror calm really helps to see them as they pop their noses up for a breath.

August 2010 - we are still seeing these wonderful gentle creatures VERY regularly over the last month - mainly on the morning cruises and when the weather is millpond & mirror calm.  Water at present is so clear we can almost see sandcrabs on the bottom.   Smooth mirror-calm winter days seem to be a real ingredient for spotting these wonderful creatures.   Recently saw a very small dugong which looked like it was reasonably newborn sticking close to mum. 

July - Aug 2010 - We have seen these wonderful creatures on almost every cruise since the beginning of July with about 8 - 10 seen on Thursday 5th August in 2 pods.  One pod had a huge male in it which we haven't seen before and there were a couple of young dugong seen as well.  The young had barnicles on them which would be annoying for them I am sure (like having an itchy bite you just want to keep scratching).    Water is beautifully clear at the moment, with the winter days being so clear and calm with little wind or waves on the water hence dugong are MUCH easier to spot.  

Feb - June 2010:   We have had regular sightings of our wonderful dugong here in the Passage over the last few months with 3 or 4 being seen regularly together which is lovely.  You can see that the larger ones are the mature ones, and the smaller ones are the juveniles although they stay with mum for quite a few years.

Dec 09-Jan 10:  We have had some AMAZING sightings of these wonderful dugong that live in the Passage.  We have been regularly sighting 6 of these creatures (possibly from one herd), with 2 of these being mums each with a juvenile swimming close by.  The Christmas Holiday period has been a surprise with the amount of REGULAR sightings we have had over the last few weeks, with 2 or 3 sightings at different spots at different times throughout one cruise.  Let's hope it is the good food source of these waters and considerate boatings that are helping these wonderful marine animals flourish here in Pumicestone Passage!!

AUG-NOV 09:  We have been still regularly seeing the local dugong on our cruises during these months with many sightings being of more than 2 dugong together at one time which is unusual for these waters.  We normally only see 1 or maybe 2 at a time.  We are seeing 4 or 5 together regularly.   at present we have a beautiful cow and her calf that we see with the calf being just a few months old.

July 09:  The dugongs are back after the winter chills and all the rain we had in May and early June, with some regular sightings now occuring.  Even saw the mother dugong with her sub-adult calf - so we are thrilled to see the gentle locals back in these waters feeding.

June 09:  Dugongs are still being seen regularly with one sighted just today (17th) just near the bridge, at Sylvan Beach heading south.  We didn't need to even be on a boat to see this one - you just needed to be onshore and know what you were looking for - a strange, large beige object swimming easily in the water with just a couple of large nostrils coming out of the water, and then its large back following through the water.  Their tail fluke does not normally come out of the water when they are on the surface, you only ever really see the bump of their nose and forehead as they breathe, and then possibly a bit of their back as they follow through and then dive.  They generally come up for breath every 5-8 minutes and forage on the sea grass beds in between breaths, hence they generally keep to relatively shallow waters, particularly if they have young, with these young needing to breath and eat more regularly. 

May/June 09:  Dugongs have been regularly sighted over the last few months which is really pleasing and even a bit surprising.  The amount of rain that has fallen in these parts over the last couple of weeks has been record breaking, however we have sighted the dugong since then, in these waters that are extremely full of fresh water runoff, as well as tannins and other undesirables coming down through the creeks and waterways into the Passage.  Anyway - we are still seeing the dugong - feeding off Gallagher's, seemingly with not a care in the world.  They have not been worried about the boat, and just keep diving, eating, and have, at times, swum right up next to and under the boat.  (The vessel has jet motors - so no props etc to damage any wildlife or feeding banks.  We generally stop and turn motors off if dugong or dolphin come too close.)

Dec-Jan 09:  We had some awesome sightings of dugongs in December with us seeing 7 dugong in one day, over 3 pods, in 3 different places in the passage and with one seacow having a beautiful new baby with her!!   We have continued to see dugong weekly throughout the holidays which has been a fantastic thrill and surprise for us.  It was assumed that, due to the fantastic weather with many boats on the water,  the dugong would be hiding during the holidays, but they have been out and about with our baby dugong seen regularly!!