Day 8: Monkey Mia: Dolphins and Dugongs

Day 8 Monkey Mia: Dolphins and Dugongs

 This morning’s adventures began with meeting and feeding the famous Monkey Mia dolphins.  Monkey Mia is a resort run by the Australian Department of Conservation and focuses on wildlife education and conservation within a fantastic setting of seaside fun.  We joined a hundred or so other visitors on the beach to be introduced to the eleven dolphins who came in near the shore – as much to interact with people as to be fed. In fact, only 5 of the dolphins are ever fed – the five that remain from when the resort was set up and no one had though of the adverse consequences – and they are only given a small amount….They have to find their own food and live a normal dolphin life for the rest of the day.  

The ranger told us that it is a different group of dolphins that come in every day – as though they are changing the cast for each performance….  There were mothers and babies – and one large male (unusual, apparently). John and I were both chosen to help with the feed – Rob and Judith had to save their starring roles for later….

We then went out for a 3 hour sail aboard the Aristocat catamaran – a terrific and informative trip around Shark Bay. After Rob had helped to raise the sail, we set off.  We stopped at the black pearl farm to gain an appreciation of the difficulties and innovations around pearl farming – much more interesting than it sounds at first… We fed the Shark Bay Pink Snapper school that lives under the  farm (They were gorgeous – I’m glad I had the barramundi for dinner last night instead….) and then sailed off to find sea turtles and dugongs – who obligingly popped up within 10 metres of the boat for photographs…

On the return journey, several passengers – including Rob and Judith – got into the boom net at the stern of the boat and rode through the wake.  The crew warned that loose ‘bathers’ could easily come off in the process – and Rob’s nearly did – but dignity was (just) maintained – and it did look like fun!

After a lovely lunch at the resort, we set off for the 4 hour drive back to Kalbarri, searching the bush for wildlife, the horizon for Willie Willies – and singing along to ABBA. In the end, it only took 3 and a half hours – Sylvia’s ‘low flying’ over the straight and empty roads had us to the Kalbarri Edge Resort easily in time to change and walk over to a spectacular meal at 7.  One thing this trip hasn’t lacked is unbelievably good food – when your starter consists of three oysters, eight prawns and three crayfish ‘bugs’ on a bed of Asian salad, you know you are in for yet another gastronomic experience!