Western Australia
3rd March 2004
Off on another dolphin experience, but this time I get
to leave Dad working hard at home while I head off to WA.
3rd March, 2004 - After spending the first night in Perth
at my Aunties house, we head off for our first WA dolphin
experience. First stop - the long drive to Monkey Mia, and
may I say it is the most boring, longest drive ever. It
is only when you hit the Overlander on the highway that
you get some sanity back from being stuck in a car for over
nine hours. The Overlander is the last service station till
Denham (the town of Monkey Mia). But you still have another
hour or two (depending on what speed you are doing) before
you get there.
Once you finally reach Monkey Mia you are greeted with
the most beautiful scenery. Clean calm waters with beautiful
white sands, people of all ages lounging around on the sands
and on the green grasses of the resort. Once bags were unloaded
from the car, it was beer o’clock. Sitting in the
comfortable chairs of the resorts we watched the sun slowly
set over the land.
TIP: when sleeping at Monkey Mia make sure you have a cover
over you (even if it is just a sheet as it s still very
warm there at night) as you have big black beetles crawling
over you in the middle of the night.
4th March 2004
Early rise to see dolphins. At around 7.10am nine dolphins
came into the interaction zone. Among them were Nicky, Piccolo
and Surprise. The interaction zone is a space set aside
for the dolphins to come and feel safe in. You are not to
go in that area unless a CALM ranger is escorting you. The
rules of this interaction area are as follows:
- Swim only outside the Dolphin Interaction Area.
- Avoid using sunscreen on your legs before entering the
water. Sunscreens can irritate dolphins eyes.
- Stand no more than knee deep in the water and wait for
the dolphins to approach you.
- Avoid touching the dolphins. Touching discourages them
from coming close and can make them aggressive.
- Always follow the directions of Department of Conservation
and Land Management officers.
- Stay away from dolphins that seem agitated, as they
can bite. Dolphin stress signs include tail slapping,
head jerks, loud popping noises and an open mouth with
bared teeth. You should leave the water if a dolphin is
acting aggressive.
- You will be asked to move out of the water when the
dolphins are fishing in the shallows or when a newborn
calf (up to six weeks of age) is in shore.
- Children must be supervised by adults when in the water.
- Pets are prohibited.
As the days feeding procedure commenced I walked into the
water up to my knees and stood behind a little girl visiting
from overseas. The CALM rangers walked with one of their
regulars “Nicky”, down the long line of tourists
who were excitingly snapping away with their cameras. When
both the ranger and the dolphin had reached the little girl
and myself, to my horror the young girl reached forward
and touched the dolphin while her Father happily took a
photo of her. The CALM ranger quickly informed the young
girl and her Father that “Nicky” had bitten
a tourist the previous day and had even bitten one of the
local CALM rangers.
Only four adult dolphins were fed once the onlookers had
been removed from the water. Then another two CALM rangers
came down the beach carrying four buckets of fish. They
spread themselves out in front of the crowd and the dolphins
also spread themselves out to the different rangers. The
rangers then proceeded to call people from the beach to
come and feed the dolphins. To my surprise those that were
offering the fish to these dolphins did not even have to
wash their hands before doing so. In total, there were eight
different people that fed the dolphins just in that one
feeding session. Before we left we witnessed another two
feeds.
To signal the end of the feed the rangers would wash the
empty buckets out in the water and at that exact moment
the dolphins turned around and headed out to deeper water.
Please be aware that sometimes the dolphins don’t
come in for days.
5th March 2004
Mandrah: We headed into Mandrah’s
information centre and asked about swimming with dolphins.
Unfortunately we could not get onto a swim as they needed
to have a certain amount of people and we didn’t have
enough time to wait around for the next available one. (Please
note we did not notify Mandrah that we were coming and that
is our fault although I do like to look at all the dolphin
swims without them knowing who I am). So we opted for the
dolphin sight seeing cruise. We were shown all through the
canals and the estuaries which was interesting but during
the cruise we did not see any dolphins.
From Mandrah we headed back up the road a few clicks to
Rockingham.
6th March 2004
I had to meet the crew of Rockingham Dolphins at 7.30am
at ‘The Cruising Yacht Club jetty’.
When we had our wetsuits on Aaron (the skipper) sat around
with us and started his brief. During the brief we had three
dolphins just behind the boat while it was still moored
on the wharf.
Once everyone was on board we were given a belt to wear.
There were six different coloured belts and I had a black
belt and so did six other passengers – this was my
team. Before we went in the water we were told to look for
crew member “Dave” as he was the local ‘dolphin
boy’. WE were to look for him as the dolphins would
be with him.
It took us around half an hour till we found a pod of dolphins.
We swam near an island full of rocks and our team was the
first to hit the water. Dave was already in with his underwater
scooter. There were three different crew members in the
water as well as Dave. They each had their own team that
in single file would hold onto the belt of the person in
front of them. The person at the beginning of the line would
grad hold of the crew members belt who would pull them through
the water with their underwater scooter. The skipper was
up on deck watching the swimmers and instructing the crew
when to change teams (there were only three teams in the
water at one time, which meant there were three teams sitting
on the deck taking photos or keeping warm). The one thing
that I was shock at was the fact that their ‘watching
boat’ (a boat that only carried those customers who
wanted to watch) –was only metres from the swimmers
in the water. It was my opinion that it should have held
back more from the swimmers and the dolphins.
In the water we were blessed with a pod of around ten dolphins
all playing, mating and generally just coming to check us
out. But it was undoubtedly “Olsar” a regular
dolphin that was the star of the day. She seeked the interaction
of the scooter and just wanted to play with Dave. It was
great to see the dolphins so desperate for the interaction.
I enjoyed the swim very much. All the crew asked if I had
enjoyed it and as I replied I was wearing that goofy dolphin
grin!
Once we got back to the wharf I stayed behind and spoke
to Dave and the crew. They were just as interested in what
we do in Adelaide as I was in what they do.
Bunbury: The Dolphin Discovery Centre
– as we entered the lady behind the counter was looking
a little bit stressed out – the centre had lost all
it’s electricity therefore nothing was working and
there were no lights. She allowed us to walk around the
centre anyway which was very nice of her. The discovery
centre was very interesting as it explained everything you’d
want to know about dolphins. The one thing that stood out
to me in particular was a display titled “Sleeping
Beauty”. It was a glass jar layed on it’s side
with the most adorable little creature sleeping inside.
There in front of me was a baby dolphin that had been growing
in it’s mother’s womb. Unfortunately, the mother
had died and when they did an autopsy they found the baby’s
foetus inside. They carefully removed it and placed it in
the jar to preserve it. Later it was donated to the Discovery
Centre.
7th March 2004
We were up at the crack of dawn to go sit down on the beach
to see if the dolphins came in. They hadn’t been in
for the last three days so we were feeling lucky. We sat
there and waited in anticipation with most of those who
had stayed at the backpackers and some other groups, including
three families with small children with disabilities. Unfortunately
luck was not with us and we all left the beach very disappointed
as the dolphins did not turn up. Note the dolphins don’t
come into this area often and maybe they should stop trying
to feed those that do and just keep them wild.
Margaret River: as we got closer to Margaret
River the scenery became a lot more green and ten times
more beautiful. The coastline was amazing. High cliffs that
over look some of the best surf spots in Australia. The
water was crystal clear and the most beautiful blue. As
I looked out over a little bay it was amazing to think that
you were looking out into open water. Even the rock formations
that were on the beach were amazing.
8th March 2004
I sum it up as a great trip and after all the experiences
we had on our trip. I have come to appreciate just how many
dolphins we have the whole way along our coast. We take
this for granted and never really sit back and appreciate
it. Some people will travel the whole world over just for
a quick glimpse of a dolphin in the wild yet we get to see
them when we go sailing, fishing, swimming or even just
walking along the beach.
Photo courtesy of Rockingham Dolphins
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