I had never heard of coquina until I read the very informative boards at Shell Beach –

and then the beautiful shell blocks we admired in the construction of the Old Pearler Restaurant in Denham were explained!

What a unique building material, a beautiful example of using resources available locally. As with most natural resources though it is in limited supply and can’t be replaced as quickly as it’s removed.

They no longer mine coquina commercially in Shark Bay.

Shell Beach might be one of the few areas in the world that produces coquina but the nearby area of Hamelin Pool is home to one of the oldest living organisms on earth – stromatolites. The Bahamas and Shark Bay are the only two places in the world with the right hypersalinity to sustain this ancient life form.

Until a cyclone came through and ripped apart the boardwalk you could venture out over the stromatolites for a close up view but that is no longer possible. The area is now fenced off to protect them. The black lumps in the water are the stromatolites.

As a wrap up of my time at Monkey Mia, Denham and Shark Bay ( including the stromatolites when there was a boardwalk!) I have linked the post I did in November 2014 – 8 years ago – when I last visited this area.

No Monkeys – It’s Dolphins at Monkey Mia!