On Porpoise

Continuing my "Critter Tour of Australia," here is a little bit of film shot at a place called Monkey Mia (the "mi" in "mia" rhymes with "pie"). It was actually Monkey Mia that, even before I met Peggy, made me decide I had to go to Australia some day. My friend Olivia had been there and told me tales of a bay (Shark Bay) where the wild dolphins swam in from the ocean and you could stand in the water and feed them. I had to see this place.

And so we drove north from Perth up to Monkey Mia. It's an amazing place. If this were in the U.S., there would be thousands of tourists, but it's actually a relatively small place. The dolphins swim in twice a day, at the same time each day. The park rangers don't do anything to call them, they never know (a) how many will show up, or (b) if the will show up. But if they do, they give them some fish and then the dolphins swim back out to the ocean.

They are careful not to give them enough fish so that they become dependent on the humans, but just enough to be hospitable and give the tourists a chance to see dolphins up close and personal.

There were probably less than 100 people on the beach on this day and the ranger chose about 5 of them to go out into the water to feed the dolphins (this day only 2 came in, a mother and daughter). I didn't get chosen, and I wasn't really in a good spot for photos. Peggy took the best still photos and I shot a little bit of video, which you can see here.

One of Peggy's Photos