I don’t know what encouraged me to wake up so god dam early (5am) maybe it was the thought of visiting Monkey Mia for the first time in 30 yrs, where I used to frequent as a child on school holidays.
The memories of being able to jump off the jetty into the water where only a few metres away the dolphins would be cruising around waiting for breakfast.
Or going out fishing on the dinghy and having them approach the boat hoping for leftover bait.
Some may say that it is a thing that shouldn’t be encouraged but what I see is the fact that for over “many. many” years these dolphins have been visiting the beach, maybe for some human interactions so we can learn about them and they can learn about us. It is a unique scenario where these wild creatures place their lives in the hands of a complete foreign object but over the years developed a trusting loving relationship.
So after the packing up from the Shark bay Caravan park and making a morning coffee for the road I was off for the hr drive to Monkey Mia.
It has definitely changed a hell of a lot from the one caravan park to the now expanding new resort. They now have strict rules and regulations when it comes to interacting with the dolphins.
For example they request you do not enter the water with sunscreen on as the oils are damaging to the dolphins skin. We are all told to wait on the deck until the ranges have spotted a minimum of 3-4 of the adult dolphins before they will allow any one the beach.
Once they are satisfied the main dolphins are around everyone is allowed to walk down to the beach and told to line up in single file along the shoreline. Once everyone is in position they let you take no more than 2 steps into the water (generally so you are in the water at ankle height) then you are requested to stay in line while the rangers explain what will happen next and the history of the area.
Once the rangers appear with buckets in hands (each bucket has no more than 4 fish in it) they stand in the water. This is the dolphins cue to come in closer and they just cruise up and down the line watching everyone.
The rangers will then pick someone from the crowd to approach them and are handed a fish and instructed how to hold it so the dolphin will approach and take the fish. Once all fish have been given out everyone is told to then step out of the water and go about their day.
The pelicans also seem to hang around hoping for a feed and the line of people does not seem to faze them especially when they decide to try to get out of the sea.
After checking out the new resort and having a bit of a tourist shop and coffee it was back on the road.
On the way back to Denham I stopped at little lagoon for a bit of a picture opportunity.
Then after filling up at Denham I was off to the Ocean Park Aquarium
This was a great chance to check out some really interesting fish and wildlife.
After enjoying my morning visiting with the local sea life it’s was off for another long drive to Carnarvon for the night hoping I would get there before dark.
The Lonely Girls Handbook 