Denham and Monkey Mia

Shark Bay consists of two long bays which have a peninsula in the middle and Denham is on one side and Monkey Mia is on the other. Check it out on Google Earth.

Shark Bay has been declared a world heritage area as it has a massive area of sea grasses which provides habitat and breeding ground for lots of fish as well as a feeding ground for Dugong and Turtles. There also has been a rehabilitation programme for the bilby and mallee fowl.

Denham is a small town with one main street that runs along the waterfront.We strolled along the grassy foreshore which looks out over the clear blue water and a few boats are moored offshore. Some of the buildings are made out of the bricks of compressed shells.

We had to get up early the next morning to be at Monkey Mia by 7.30 for the dolphin feeding. The dolphins have been feed here for over 30 years. It is now very controlled and only five dolphins are feed and they are only given a small amount so they don’t rely on it and still have to hunt. They are only fed 3 times a day which is the morning and it depends on what time they come in to when they are fed.
When we arrived they were quite a few dolphins swimming around and a couple of young pups playing.
The water is very shallow and clear so you can see them easily. We all had to wait off the sand till the rangers come along and then we can move down and stand in the water. No one is allowed to touch the dolphin and only a few people are chosen to feed the dolphins. They are so beautiful close up and of course they all have names and personalities. The ranger explains all about the dolphins as the follow here up and down the line. After they have been fed they all disappear. We were surprised that they came back again for the second feeding.
There is a resort at Monkey Mia and a caravan park and that is all. No houses. It is very pretty beach and peaceful.
We went and had a coffee while taking in the scenery.

There are two tourist catamarans that take you for a cruise on the bay. One called Shotover which used to be a very fast racing boat that one lots of races. The other one is Aristocat 2. I wanted to go on it but was informed that I was booked out. However I noticed a couple obtaining a seat at the boat and asked if they could squeeze another on in so right at the last minute I was able to go.

Our first stop was the Pearl Farm which produces black pearls. If anyone has been watching “The farmer wants a wife” farmer Jamie is on the pearl farm at Monkey Mia (we had watched the show the night before)
Of course everyone was asking him who he had chosen but he’s not allowed to tell. The pearl farm was very interesting and it was such an intricate process to seed the shells so you can understand why they are so expensive.


After leaving the pearl farm we had a chance to view some dugongs, some turtles and some dolphins. There are great restrictions on the tour boat. They are only allowed to track the animal for fifteen minutes and have to press a button to say they have sighted one so they are monitored all the way. The dolphins we saw carry a sponge in their mouth when hunting to protect their mouth
. After we had sighted some animals we set the sail and were sailing along in a good breeze. It was good to be on the water again. I really enjoyed the trip.

After that we went had lunch at the resort, watched done of the movies about the dolphins and then headed back after a very pleasant day.