Shoeman's Sting

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Shoeman's Sting is a rock formation at the northern end of Ningaloo Reef , about 500 meters off the west coast of Australia . It is needle-shaped, about 60 meters high and consists mainly of granite . The tip of this formation is only about one meter below the sea surface, at low tide the upper part is partially visible from the land. Shoeman's Sting is about 10 meters in diameter at the bottom and 2 meters at the top.

The rock was named after the merchant ship captain Peter Schumann from Bremen , who hit the rock with his ship in 1912 and damaged it badly. He mapped the location and reported it to the British Crown Colony authorities as a danger point. Nevertheless, it happens again and again that ships run aground on the rocks, such as the fishing ship "Madelaine" sailing under the Filipino flag in 2003 . Since it is a nature reserve , no warning signs have been put up even today.

Today Shoeman's Sting is a popular destination for divers in the diving paradise of the Ningaloo Reef. The rock needle is covered with corals all around and is home to numerous reef inhabitants.

literature

  • The Ningaloo Reef . In: Aqua , (2003), Issue 2, ISSN  0945-9871
  • Ingo Schwegmann: When the corals scratched the hull. Reefs and their dangers . Osnabrück 2004.
  • Geoff Taylor: Whale Sharks. The Giants of Ningaloo Reef . Angus & Robertson, Pymble, NSW 1994, ISBN 0-20718-498-4 .