The magical spot where Europeans first set foot in this part of the world is also one of only 16 places on the planet which meet all four World Heritage Area criteria, writes Jim Eagles.
Gather round the fire, friends, for the night is dark, and I'll tell you an Australian fairytale about a place where mermaids frolic in the sun, dolphins use sponges to keep their faces clean, fish dance on their tails, whales perform acrobatics and the oldest species on earth meditates silently on on its 3-billion-year history.
Hard to believe, I know, but I'm here to tell you that I've seen all those marvels with my very own eyes ... and I'm no Australian.
To reach this magical place I had to travel as far as a person may go and still be in Australasia, to the very western edge of the red island continent which is our nearest neighbour.
My journey took me first to Western Australia's bustling capital, Perth, and then 700km north to Shark Bay, a vast area of shallow, sheltered, warm water where marine life thrives.
Most people have never heard of it, but Shark Bay is one of only 16 places on the planet which meet all four World Heritage Area criteria by providing "outstanding examples of major stages in the Earth's evolution, outstanding examples of ongoing ecological processes, unique natural phenomena and significant natural habitats where endangered species of animals or plants reside".
It is also the spot where Europeans first set foot in this part of the world, in the shape of the Dutch Explorer Dirk Hartog who landed there in 1616, well before Abel Tasman and James Cook passed through.
The base for my exploration of this extraordinary area was Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort, a peaceful, low-key beachside resort with cabins, backpacker accommodation, a camping ground and a caravan park. Monkey Mia is probably best known as the place where for 40 years the little Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins have been coming into the beach to be hand-fed fish.
It's a practice which started accidentally back in the 60s when dolphins found that by following fishing boats back to the beach they could usually score an easy meal of discarded catch.
These days it continues under strict guidelines designed to protect the dolphins' health and ensure they retain the ability to hunt in the wild.
Three times a day 200 to 300 people stand ankle-deep in the water to enjoy the remarkable experience of four adult female dolphins, and half-a-dozen immature offspring, nosing around the lines of feet, eyeballing the attached bodies - you have to wonder just who is watching who - and showing off while they wait to be handed a few fish.
But there is a lot more to Shark Bay's dolphins than that.
Because the bay has such a huge population of dolphins - estimated at about 600 - it has for more than 20 years been the site of the world's most extensive dolphin research project and that has produced some remarkable discoveries.
Mosey out into the bay on Monkey Mia Wildsights' catamaran Shotover - the Kiwi name is because it was once owned by millionaire Doug Myers - and if you're lucky you'll be able to confirm the research findings for yourself.
You're bound to pass plenty of dolphins as the catamaran sails gently into the bay, and if you look closely you might notice that some seem to have strange growths on their heads.
But, as the scientists found when they looked more closely, those aren't growths but conical pieces of sponge which a few of the dolphins - so far 33 have been identified - pick up and use.
With my binoculars I was able to see that one female who came surging by had a hunk of sponge on her beak, discarded it when she wanted to chase fish, and then replaced it.
Richard Connor, the American biologist who launched the research programme, says it hasn't been possible to see exactly what the sponge is used for, but almost certainly it protects the dolphins' beaks when they forage for food on the seafloor.
In other words, he adds, "they have a tool-using culture out there. That's not uncommon among animals - primates, for instance, and birds - but it's the first time it's been observed among marine animals".
The other thing you may notice as you cruise the bay is that although dolphins are usually found in twos or threes - a female and a calf, small groups of unattached males, or a couple of males trying to keep a fertile female to themselves - in Shark Bay they are sometimes seen in bands of five, eight or even 14.
It seems that the high-population density in the bay has resulted in male dolphins not only forming alliances to kidnap fertile females so as to increase their chances of breeding with them, but also alliances of alliances, and even super-alliances, to protect their females from other groups of males.
"That's a far more complex set of relationships than you find even with, say, chimpanzees," Connor says.
"Nothing like it has been recorded anywhere else in the world." But keep sailing out into the bay on Shotover and you'll discover there is even more to see than the world's smartest and most sociable dolphins.
On most trips you're likely to spot tiger sharks, loggerhead and green turtles and shovelhead stingrays.
Maybe there'll be flyingfish, manta rays and seasnakes, and - good heavens - mermaids.
The origin of the mermaid myth is almost certainly the dugong, or seacow, which despite being threatened worldwide still graze in large numbers on the seagrass that covers much of the floor of Shark Bay.
Dugongs grow up to 3m long, weigh 400kg, live up to 70 years, are most closely related to the elephant and, said an Aborigine I spoke to, taste like greasy pork.
It is a little hard to see one as a beautiful woman with a the tail of a fish ... but then sailors were notorious for their lack of judgment after many months at sea.
I guess if you had never seen one before and suddenly spotted a shape with a distinct head, curved body and fishy tail drifting past it could look like a mermaid.
I have seen a dugong trying to drown a human which is exactly what legends record mermaids doing to many a luckless sailor.
That particular dugong, who has since died, used to live in Resolution Bay on the island of Tanna, in Vanuatu.
If you paid the local people a few vatu they would call it in by slapping the surface of the water so you could swim with it.
Sadly, the dugong had become a bit aggressive in his old age and I was warned not to follow it into deep water.
An Australian off one of the yachts anchored in the bay swam over to join in and, knowing no better, followed it out. Next minute the dugong was rolling over the top of him, pushing him underwater, while the locals he had omitted to pay responded to his shouts for help by laughing. The Aussie escaped when the dugong tired of the game, but he was pretty shocked and covered with grazes and scratches from the dugong's bristly skin.
Fortunately, perhaps, there's no dugong swim on offer in Shark Bay, but on the Shotover you can drift quietly along watching these strange creatures feeding in the clear, shallow water, coming to the surface to breath and sometimes even communicating with barking noises.
A totally different way to see Shark Bay's amazing wildlife is an adrenaline-packed outing on Aqua Rush, an aluminium craft where you sit on motorcycle-style seats and zoom along at up to 40 knots, the speed making it possible to see most of the sights in a day. These include dolphins, sharks, rays and dugong - on my trip we saw two females with calves in tow - the Useless Loop Salt Works with its 250,000-tonne mountain of salt, lovely wildflowers and the rugged Zuytdorp Cliffs with blowholes powered by waves all the way from Africa.
On Dirk Hartog Island, where the eponymous Dutch explorer left an engraved pewter plaque to mark his historic landing 389 years ago, we paused for lunch, admired a 4.5m tiger shark and watched sea eagles taking fish to the great piles of sticks which are their nests.
The presence of sharks made snorkeling a bit nervewracking but the beautiful warm, clear water contained lots of fish, beautiful coral and - happily - nothing hungry.
Just inside Steep Point, the western-most spot on the Australian mainland, the sea suddenly erupted with dozens of silver fish about 1m long which danced across the water standing upright on their tails. These are long-toms which escape from their underwater predators by performing this astounding stunt of dancing on the water.
Just outside the point, where the Indian Ocean rolls relentlessly in, humpback whales were turning on an amazing acrobatic display.
One massive gymnast which must have been 25m long burst out of the sea right in front of our boat, soared out of the water to his full height, then crashed back down in an explosion of foam and spray.
It was such an astounding sight that we all sat gobsmacked, our mouths open in amazement, too stunned to take photos.
Further out, two smaller whales were playfully performing backflips for our entertainment. Several other whales passed in more sedate fashion, surging up to breathe and then arcing back down into the water as they powered north. One paused for a bit of tail-slapping and splashing, rolled over to give a giant wave with its flipper, then ploughed northwards again.
I've gone whalewatching at Kaikoura and that was impressive enough but this was simply awe-inspiring.
But the marine marvels of Shark Bay aren't just limited to the open sea.
Take a 4-wheel-drive excursion with Monkey Mia Wildsights to Shell Beach and in many places along the water's edge you can see the oldest known species, stromatolites, arguably the foundation of life on Earth, dating back some 3.5 billion years, and long thought to be extinct.
These are incredibly primitive organisms, microbes that lack even a cellular nucleus, which combine to create mushroom-like structures in the sea in much the same way as coral does.
For more than 2 billion years they were the dominant lifeform. They are the oldest known fossils and contributed substantially to creating the Earth's oxygen atmosphere through their photosynthesis.
Amazingly, they exist in one or two places, of which the best and most accessible is this corner of Shark Bay, known as Hamelin Pool, apparently because the high salt content in the water keeps away the snails which usually prey on them.
It's a remarkable experience to walk along the edge of the beach and see these ancient structures growing in the shallows, knowing that in a sense they marked the beginning of life on earth, and here they are still surviving aeons later in this magical corner of the world.
That's a pretty good fairytale ending.
CHECKLIST
Getting there: Air New Zealand flies direct to Perth several times a week. Skippers Aviation flies to Shark Bay four times a week.
Accommodation: Monkey Mia Resort.
