Monkey Mia

We spent today at Monkey Mia, close to Denham in Shark Bay. We went early to see the dolphins that regularly swim into the shallows there. They feed some of the dolphins there - it is all very controlled (they feed only a few dolphins and only a few fish, <10% of their daily requirement) and it does raise awareness of dolphin conservation issues but I still felt uncomfortable about the feeding. Undoubtedly you get great views of the dolphins but later in the morning we went out on a boat trip and I preferred seeing the dolphins more naturally from the boat. The catamaran boat trip was great and we saw lots of wildlife. We saw bottle-nosed dolphins, dugongs (manatees) including a mother and baby (see last photo), turtles (both green and loggerhead), eagle rays, a shark ray and a sea snake. We also saw numerous birds including pelicans, gulls, cormorants and a surprising number of swallows, plus some unwelcome jellyfish. The dugongs were particularly good to see,, especially the mother and calf. Apparently this area is home to about 10% of the dugong (manatee) population of the entire world. After a tasty lunch we enjoyed a swim in the sea before leaving for our cabin in Denham just before sunset. It gets dark quickly here and it is best to avoid driving at night if possible, as kangaroo encounters on the road are common and can cause quite a bit of damage (to both kangaroo and vehicle!).

15 weeks down, 2 still left to go - we fly home 2 weeks today....Read more