Although we’re not the earliest risers by nature, we were fortunate enough to meet the dolphins several times. Now, this is what we had imagined dolphin encounters to be like! They came to us, and we fed them. They came bringing their babies with them, whistling and clicking their signature tunes and turning their heads to see what we looked like. It was utterly, utterly wonderful. Rowan was chosen first to feed Nicky and her calf, and I was truly grateful that she wanted some help: so I got to hand feed a dolphin. Rowan obviously has a good look for this type of thing, as she was chosen again, but being the gracious sister that she is, she deferred to her brother, so Rhys too fed these amazing creatures. We think our lateness in rising actually worked in our favour: apparently, when the dolphins first come in, about 7.30am, the beach is packed with keen beans. We had a much smaller group to greet them at their 3rd visit, around 10.30am.
We didn’t just veg in the sea and on the sand (though we are not afraid to admit: we did that most of the time!). One day we did abandon the deserted beaches for the ocean itself. We set sail on the Shotover, which is a pretty famous yacht, still holding many speed records. It once voyaged all the way to Auckland in under 96 hours. Now, after Santa Barbara, we’d all caught the sailing bug. Joe and I both volunteered to help raise sail and were chuffed with our modest achievements. Once under sail, there simply is nothing better than lying on the nets of a large cat, powering along totally using the wind, silent and fast across the sea. Though we did see a t-shirt we enjoyed in NZ defining the joy of sailing:
‘Sailing (n, passion) a way to get not very far, not very fast, whilst getting very wet and spending inordinate amounts of cash.’
I don’t care. I still want a yacht.
That afternoon, we not only got sun and wind blasted, but we saw 4 sea turtles, loads of dolphins, an enormous manta ray, a tiger shark, a leopard shark, a lethal sea snake (that will kill you in about 3 seconds) and at least 12 dugongs. At one point the two man crew were shouting “turtle, 9 o clock! Dugong, 12 o clock! Shark, 3 o clock!”
So what on earth are dugongs? They are related to manatees, or sea cows. There are only 100,000 in the world. 10,000 of them graze here, on the sea grass in shallow Shark Bay. A cameraman apparently came out on the Shotover recently and was gobsmacked throughout. He had been tracking dugong for 6 months. In 2 hours in Shark Bay, he got better footage than he had done in the whole six months. They are very, very shy and extremely rare, but off Monkey Mia, you are falling over them.
All this wildlife is incredible, but it can get too close for comfort. We were pootling around in the ocean one afternoon, when the same type of sea snake was suddenly evident winding its way not a foot from where we swam. I warned a nearby American woman who was just preparing to get into the water. Alas, she was put off for good and did not step foot in the ocean again, which is a criminal shame! There is also the thrill of seeing stingrays up close, and always the hope that the dolphins might come in. They did, twice, whilst we swam, and there is nothing on earth like it. Especially when you’re trying to work out whether it’s a dolphin or a shark … luckily it was the former for us, each time.
Our four nights at Monkey Mia were simply incredible, leaving us wanting much, much more. We are certainly going to come back to Australia, and Western Australia in particular. We hadn’t budgeted much time there, but like everyone else it seems who ventures Down Under, we were truly smitten. We shall return.
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