The alarm went off at 7am this morning and we dragged ourselves out of bed to go see the dolphin feeding. The hostel is right on the beach so it's only a short walk to 
the dolphin feeding area. Since the early 60s dolphins have been coming to shore at Monkey Mia, swimming around the shallows and hoping to be fed. Dolphin feeding here is now strictly controlled (No feeding after 1pm, no more than three feeds per day and no more than a third of the necessary fish intake) to ensure that the dolphins still learn to hunt in the wild and don't become reliant on humans for food. Only adult dolphins are fed -- calves have to learn to hunt for themselves. There are also strict rules about how the dolphins are fed and what sort of interaction is allowed - no touching, no feeding unless under Conservation and Land Management (CALM) officers supervision, remaining only knee-deep in water and avoiding the use of sunscreen on your legs to prevent irritating the dolphins eyes.
When we arrived at t
he dolphin interaction area there were already quite a few people in the water as well as a couple of dolphins. The dolphins provided some entertainment by frolicking around in the water while they waited for their breakfast. Soon the CALM officers arrived with buckets of fish and instructed us to get out of the water. On hearing us getting out of the water, the dolphins knew it was breakfast time and lined themselves up along the shore. There were about 5 fully grown dolphins as well as some calves including a very cute little one called Yule who was born on Christmas day. The CALM officers told us a little about the dolphins before choosing some spectators to feed the dolphins. Soon the feeding was over and the dolphins moved back out to sea. It was a stunning morning so we hung around the beach for a while, taking photos of more pelicans before going back for breakfast.
Then it was time for our wildlife cruise abroad the Aristocat 2. While waiting on
the jetty for the boat to leave we saw the dolphin feeding again, this time from a different angle and with less people around -- very cool. The we boarded the Aristocat 2 and sailed out to sea. The first stop was a Pearl farm, which I wasn't that excited about and Matt didn't look that keen either, but it turned out to be very interesting. We learned about how pearls are formed and harvested -- a very delicate process by all accounts. There was an opportunity to buy pearls at the end but nobody pushed us to buy -- quite refreshing after our experiences in South East Asia a few months ago. The rest of the trip was spent watching out for wildlife and relaxing in the sun. Unfortunately there wasn't much wildlife to see, but we did spot a turtle and a couple of dugongs in the distance.
We arrived back in Monkey Mia in the early afternoon and had a late lunch. We didn't have anything planned for the afternoon so we lay on the beach and read for a while. I actually fell right asleep for about an hour and luckily my sun cream did it's job for once and I didn't get burned. In the evening we headed into Denham for dinner and had some really nice food in the Old Pearler restaurant. Tomorrow we check out and it's another long drive to Coral bay.
the dolphin feeding area. Since the early 60s dolphins have been coming to shore at Monkey Mia, swimming around the shallows and hoping to be fed. Dolphin feeding here is now strictly controlled (No feeding after 1pm, no more than three feeds per day and no more than a third of the necessary fish intake) to ensure that the dolphins still learn to hunt in the wild and don't become reliant on humans for food. Only adult dolphins are fed -- calves have to learn to hunt for themselves. There are also strict rules about how the dolphins are fed and what sort of interaction is allowed - no touching, no feeding unless under Conservation and Land Management (CALM) officers supervision, remaining only knee-deep in water and avoiding the use of sunscreen on your legs to prevent irritating the dolphins eyes.When we arrived at t
he dolphin interaction area there were already quite a few people in the water as well as a couple of dolphins. The dolphins provided some entertainment by frolicking around in the water while they waited for their breakfast. Soon the CALM officers arrived with buckets of fish and instructed us to get out of the water. On hearing us getting out of the water, the dolphins knew it was breakfast time and lined themselves up along the shore. There were about 5 fully grown dolphins as well as some calves including a very cute little one called Yule who was born on Christmas day. The CALM officers told us a little about the dolphins before choosing some spectators to feed the dolphins. Soon the feeding was over and the dolphins moved back out to sea. It was a stunning morning so we hung around the beach for a while, taking photos of more pelicans before going back for breakfast.Then it was time for our wildlife cruise abroad the Aristocat 2. While waiting on
the jetty for the boat to leave we saw the dolphin feeding again, this time from a different angle and with less people around -- very cool. The we boarded the Aristocat 2 and sailed out to sea. The first stop was a Pearl farm, which I wasn't that excited about and Matt didn't look that keen either, but it turned out to be very interesting. We learned about how pearls are formed and harvested -- a very delicate process by all accounts. There was an opportunity to buy pearls at the end but nobody pushed us to buy -- quite refreshing after our experiences in South East Asia a few months ago. The rest of the trip was spent watching out for wildlife and relaxing in the sun. Unfortunately there wasn't much wildlife to see, but we did spot a turtle and a couple of dugongs in the distance.We arrived back in Monkey Mia in the early afternoon and had a late lunch. We didn't have anything planned for the afternoon so we lay on the beach and read for a while. I actually fell right asleep for about an hour and luckily my sun cream did it's job for once and I didn't get burned. In the evening we headed into Denham for dinner and had some really nice food in the Old Pearler restaurant. Tomorrow we check out and it's another long drive to Coral bay.
