Australia - 23 - Monkey Mia in Shark Bay

Saturday, 22 April 2023

Shark Bay and the lands & islands surrounding it are the westernmost point in Australia - and a UNESCO World Heritage site. We spent the day on the peninsula in the middle of the bay, taking in the "dolphin experience" at Monkey Mia (pronounced with a long i, not "ee") in the early morning, followed by walks and a trip to the Ocean Park Aquarium on the other side of the peninsula.

At the Dolphin Experience, visitors can wade into the bay, or watch from a pier. The dolphins are fed by two park rangers and the feeding process has been carefully planned to not supplant the dolphins necessity to catch food and feed their young on their own.

Two dolphins coming in to get fed.

The Experience attracts a lot of dolphins. We saw about 12, but some days there are more than 20. The park rangers know which dolphins they want to feed each day, and make sure that only those dolphins get fed.

The dolphins are identified by their dorsal fins, tails, and scars. This "regular" has clearly seen more than her share of encounters with sharks, and has an easily identified dorsal fin.

Lots of birds were hanging out on sandbars at low tide.

This falcon is an Australian Hobby.

Australian Pelicans tower over smaller sea birds.

Looking back at Shark Bay from the top of the ridge, you can see how abruptly the sand color changes from nearly white (from corals and sea shells) to the rusty orange sand from the native rocks.

An emu crosses the trail.

Ocean Park Aquarium

At first glance, the Ocean Park Aquarium did not look too inviting, but it had a nice collection of local sea life. 

Squid

Lionfish. The lighting over the tanks was generally blue/purple, skewing the color of photos.

Mirages

The distant shore looked very peculiar at times. We finally figured out that we were seeing mirages floating above the hills.

Looking across the bay from the Aquarium, the shore seemed to have some strange landforms.

Salt piles across the bay at Useless Loop. Again the tops of the salt piles are mostly mirage.

Strange floating mesas - again mirages.