Shark Bay

Shark Bay is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. It is an area centred approximately on 25°30′S 113°30′E / 25.5°S 113.5°E / -25.5; 113.5Coordinates: 25°30′S 113°30′E / 25.5°S 113.5°E / -25.5; 113.5, 800 kilometres north of Perth, on the westernmost point of Australia. An expedition led by Dirk Hartog happened upon the area in 1616, becoming the second group of Europeans known to have visited Australia. Shark Bay was named by William Dampier, in 1699.

The area has a population of fewer than 1,000 people and a coastline of over 1,500 kilometres. The half-dozen small communities making up this population occupy less than 1% of the total area.

Read more about Shark Bay:  Fauna, Flora, Stromatolites, Protected Area, Discovery Centre, Access, National Parks and Reserves, Bays of World Heritage Area, Islands of World Heritage Area, Peninsulas of The World Heritage Area, IBRA Sub Regions of The Shark Bay Area

Famous quotes containing the words shark and/or bay:

    I have often told you that I am that little fish who swims about under a shark and, I believe, lives indelicately on its offal. Anyway, that is the way I am. Life moves over me in a vast black shadow and I swallow whatever it drops with relish, having learned in a very hard school that one cannot be both a parasite and enjoy self-nourishment without moving in worlds too fantastic for even my disordered imagination to people with meaning.
    Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948)

    The seagull’s wings shall dip and pivot him,
    Shedding white rings of tumult, building high
    Over the chained bay waters Liberty—
    Then, with inviolate curve, forsake our eyes
    Hart Crane (1899–1932)