I had been here 23 years ago, at which time there was not much here other than a camp ground, portable showers and toilets, and the beginnings of some more permanent buildings. The ‘dolphin experience’ was a little disorganised, with people tending to crowd the dolphins in the water.
I was aware that there now was a 'Monkey Mia
Dolphin Resort', so I was not really expecting too much – thinking along the
lines of possibly too much commercialisation.
Not so. The Dept of
Environment & Conservation run the dolphin viewing and feeding and do a
first rate job, keeping it well under control.
The resort is there, as is space for some caravans further up the beach,
but it’s not overwhelming. We were extremely lucky. We got there early for the first anticipated dolphin arrival and feeding. At 8.22 am four dolphins showed, but only two came up for feeding. There were 115 visitors. (These figs recorded by DEC.) I was chosen to feed a fish to one of the dolphins. Great experience!
Dolphins gone, we dispersed with the rest of the visitors. Not long after, we wandered back down to the beach in time to see the dolphins come in for the second time at 9.01 am. This time ten dolphins showed, and four came up for feeding. There were only 50 visitors. Clive was chosen to feed a fish to one of the dolphins. Fantastic!
We drove back to Monkey Mia mid afternoon, for a walk and possibly a swim. We were wandering back up the beach on the far side of the jetty, wading in the water, when we had a third encounter - two dolphins again came right in to say hello to us and two guys who were next to the jetty. Very unusual for them to come in in the afternoon, and definitely something to remember.
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| Hello! |
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| My turn. From the shape of her fin, I believe this was Puck. |
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| Hello again! |
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| Clive's turn |
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| Monkey Mia, late afternoon. No crowds. One of the additional pleasing aspects this morning was that there were NO tour buses and NO Japanese tourists. (Some Germans though!) Surprising. |
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