Feb. 11: Shark Bay / Monkey Mia morning
They do 3 "experiences" each morning. As 7:45am approaches, people start to gather at the ranger station. There are clear signs that the people aren't allowed onto the sand and at check-in, people are told they aren't ever allowed to swim between the yellow cone and the dock. Once 7:45 hits, the ranger allows people to go down to the sand and form a line about 4 feet from where the sand meets the water. By now, the dolphins have arrived. There is a group of wild dolphins - one is the "Surprise family" and one is the "Puck family" - and they know they'll get food if they show up. It struck me as amazing that the dolphins arrived on time. It seemed clear to me that they are able to "tell time" somehow (probably similarly to how humans told time long ago) based on the sun and other things. They didn't arrive terribly early, but instead arrived just in time. The way they looked at us, the way they approached the sand and were in charge of what happened and when ... it definitely felt like we were the attraction that they showed up daily to see!
Shark Bay (where Monkey Mia is) is another UNESCO World Heritage site, and is only 1 of 6 in the world that has 4 qualifying features (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/578). As such, the rangers are VERY CAREFUL about what happens with the wild dolphin population. The dolphins have been coming to Monkey Mia since the 60s. These days, the rangers control what happens (we humans all stand in a line and don't touch the water) and when it happens. The lead ranger gave a 5 minute talk about the area and the dolphins and then volunteers with labeled buckets came down. The volunteers were each to find their dolphin and stand in the water next to him / her.
Each dolphin only gets 10% of her daily food allowance any given morning (and there are 3 "experiences" so she gets much less each experience). This is to make sure the dolphins don't lose the ability to catch wild fish - i.e. they don't just start sitting on the couch eating food handed to them! The rangers also use this chance to check on the older dolphins (the eldest there is 47 years old) and to give antibiotics and other additives to "provisional" dolphins. These are dolphins who have been selected, through a 12-step process, to be cared for at a higher level by the rangers. Often it means the dolphin has sustained a shark attack and is healing so the rangers add some antibiotics.
There happened also to be 3 baby dolphins, ranging from about 4 months old to one week old. They stick very close to their mama but then also are "babysat" by another dolphin at times. This is all very important for dolphin socialization, and also to keep the baby safe from predators she doesn't yet know exist. After the first "experience," humans are ordered to leave the beach so the dolphins know there isn't more food. The dolphins then did their dolphin thing (chased and ate wild fish, played in the water) and also - very importantly - nursed the babies. Dolphin babies nurse every 15 minutes but if the mama is working on getting free fish, she'll ignore the baby. So the mandated break of 10 minutes between each "experience" is extra important now.
At the end of the 10 minute break, the crowd - which has now thinned as some people on tours have left, others have become bored with waiting and have gone back to their rooms, and some have moved on to different activities - heads back to the line in the sand. The whole thing starts again, and happens a total of 3 times between 7:45am and noon. The interesting part is that the 3 experiences could happen anytime throughout the morning ... but G noted that the smart dolphins know more food is coming so they don't leave into the vast ocean only to come back hours later. They hover around for their next free food, only leaving at the end of the 3rd experience.
Ii and I got chosen to feed a dolphin and got to feed Kiya! S and C didn't want to join me, so Ii and I went into the water. The volunteer reminded us not to touch the dolphin. We held the (dead) fish by the fish's tail and sort of placed it on the water. It was a split second before Kiya grabbed her fish from us. Ii wasn't quite sure about holding the fish so I did the main holding and she just lightly held the tip of the fish's tail. It was such a beautiful experience. We then exited the water and danced our way back to the line where G, S and C were beaming!
We packed the car, checked out and headed to Geraldton!
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