An Amazing day at Monkey Mia
Trip Start
Apr 14, 2012
1
18
55
Trip End
Dec 21, 2012
What I did
Denham, Western Australia, Australia
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
No need to say we all had the best night sleep ever! We woke at 6.55 and were out the door by 7.10am headed towards Monkey Mia for the 8am dolphin feeding. After two days of disappointment we thought we needed to do something to lift out spirits. Puck – the most famous (and most studied) of the Monkey Mia dolphins and 5 of her friends and family came into the feeding. The dolphins are fed 3 times a morning, and it depends on when they come in as to when they are fed. They are only given one or two fish each, so they are not dependent on the program for feeding. The dolphins all still fish for themselves in the wild unlike a decade back when they were over fed by tourists. Monkey Mia is run by the DEC and we found it to be very controlled and protective of the dolphins. We weren't allowed to approach them or pat them, only if they approach us. For the 8am feed we were 4 amongst the 200 tourists, their busiest day of May. Not as busy as Easter where they had 480 on the beach! Check out the photos, the beach isn’t that big. With each feeding, depending on the amount of dolphins that come into shore, 6 people are chosen from the crowd to feed a dolphin. They choose, young, old, from the front, from the back and Amon! Yes our beautiful boy got to wade out into the water with a volunteer who gave him a fish to feed Puck’s son India. It was a special day for India as it was his 7th birthday – same age as Amon- he was super happy he got to feed a dolphin and it was the birthday dolphin!
Astrid wanted to try her luck at a feeding a dolphin on the second round so we stuck to the beach and the kids happily played with some friends they had made Perth. The second feeding was not much later and we headed back to the water. Then Astrid realised we had to listen to the half hour educational spiel again about the dolphins – I was happy to, but not the kids. So we took a walk over to the pier. We saw schools of different fish, a clam, big fish, little fish, and the highlight was a turtle that Astrid spotted just as we were about to race back for dolphin feeding time. He was gorgeous, he just rose up out of the water at arm’s reach away, hovered, then slowly glided back down into the depths – very cool! Astrid missed the dolphin feeding time but was happy nonetheless. Later I (shaz) had an amazing experience. I noticed a bunch of French backpackers looking very excited and putting on their snorkelling gear and racing into the water. I walked over and saw that some of them were swimming with 2 dolphins – or the dolphins were swimming with them. A split-second decision to just dive into the water is one I will never regret. No snorkelling gear and a little concerned I hadn’t let Ant know where I was, I swam out to where the dolphins were. I watched their dorsal fins glide in and out of the water circling everyone wading in the water. As one came towards me I went under and opened my eyes as one came straight towards me, I felt like it looked me in the eye, I surfaced and there were two right next to me. I could have reached out to pat them but I didn’t want to scare them away, plus I was in awe. Who can think when in awe? Not me. The beautiful creatures circled me then swam off, one brushing against my arm. I was elated! What an experience.
We spent the rest of the day at Monkey Mia swimming, building sandcastles and walking along the beaches. Ant taught Astrid how to snorkel. She picked it up immediately, like a duck to water! We went back to Denham all very, very happy – a gorgeous day after the car dramas.
Comments
wow... great decision... xxx
What an amazing day! The super moon obviously was not in agreement with your plans, without those car troubles such an amazing experience would have been missed. Glad you guys are safe and having fun. Xx
what an awesome day! great pics and great times all round. big love to you all xo
loving the journey with you all! Hugs tight x Glad your mechanical troubles turned out to be less stressy than thought and you are having such wonderful warm adventures, so pleased to share your awe and wonderful experiences, you paint a beauiful picture Shaz! (And you too Ms Ast!
Miss you guys
All my love X Che
y
To Sharon & family, last year i got to feed puck at MM. you are very lucky to
be able to play & swim with the dolphins