2024/25 Volunteer Emily W reflects on the unique way we experience time and place here on the Ningaloo Coast.
On Ningaloo’s shores
As the sun breaks through it lights up the beaches, bright blues stretch from shore to sky. You begin your monitoring and sense the buzz of the night. You cast your eye over scattered markings and settle on a fresh green turtle track. As you follow it wildly looping into the dunes, you imagine her thoughts and the time spent. Every morning is different and each as special as the last.
Beneath Ningaloo’s waves
You dive under the surface, all thoughts are washed away and replaced with feelings of calm and light. As your breathing slows you become a silent observer drifting over the endless corals and marine fauna. A hawksbill turtle glides under and then eye to eye with you as it rises to the surface to draw breath. You feel it’s wisdom and knowledge of this coast line and realise this has always been their home.
Under Ningaloo’s night sky
Dusk arrives and a dark blanket is slowly pulled over the sky. It’s endless stars revealing themselves one by one. A sense of peace comes with the breeze. The temperature drops and the range softens into the night. You look to the glistening shoreline to see a shadow emerging from the stillness. Calmly, step by step, a loggerhead turtle makes her way to the dunes. Settling into the sand she tirelessly digs in the moonlight. As she feels down to chamber and lay eggs you share in her trance.
Words: Emily Willis
Photo credits: Wobiri with Turtle Tracks & Starry Night – Maddie Cayley
Photo credit: Hawksbill on Ningaloo Reef – Emily Willis
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