The shells
Tiny and white.
Calistemon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Calistemon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gabriele Delhey — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Phil Whitehouse from London, United Kingdom — CC BY 2.0 · Gabriele Delhey — CC BY-SA 3.0
Shell Beach is a beach in the Shark Bay region of Western Australia, about 45 km south-east of the town of Denham. It is covered in tiny shells for 60 km and to a depth of seven to ten metres, one of only two beaches in the world made entirely of shells. It is named for the great number of shells of a small cockle. The water in the bay is very salty because of its shape and climate, so the cockle has multiplied without natural predators. Over time the shells have cemented into a limestone called coquina, which was quarried before Shark Bay became a World Heritage Site. You see a dazzling white beach stretching far away, its ground made of millions of tiny white shells instead of sand, and shallow, clear turquoise water with hardly any waves. In places, blocks of shells have cemented as hard as stone. It is about 40 km from Denham in a straight line. The water is so salty you float easily, and the sun is strong with little shade.
Tiny and white.
Shallow turquoise.
Cemented shells.
Shark Bay region, south-east of Denham, Australia
The very salty water keeps away the cockle's predators.
Yes, and the shallow salty water makes floating easy.