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I normally don't create a "text" page for the upper-left photos, but this one is just too important.  Patti took this photo in Vanuatu, not Australia, where the dugong lived in clear water.  Dugongs are the only living close relatives to the manatee.  Their faces are a little different and their tails are quite different but they are both 8 to 10' long, weighing up to 1,000 pounds.  They are called sea cows because they eat grass in shallow water all day, bobbing to the surface for air every few minutes.

This particular dugong is the only one ANYWHERE, as far as we know, who lives in the wild but will let humans swim around him.  Our #1 goal in sailing to Vanuatu was to see this dugong and we found him after anchoring for four days at a remote island.  Finding and swimming with this dugong was one of the great thrills of our lives.

So why is he on the Port Hinchinbrook page?  Because the north end of Port Hinchinbrook Island is perhaps the most successful dugong sanctuary anywhere.  There are hundreds of them.  We even see them off the beach at times.  They are also common in other areas along Queensland's coast.