The first time I saw dolphins was at one of those sea world type places with the mammals were captive and performing for the crowd. Luckily the ones in Perth shut down years ago but there are beautiful ways to see dolphins in WA in their natural habitat.
There a few ways we can experience dolphins in the wild and it depends on your level of adventure as what takes your fancy.
Interacting on the beach
The most famous beach interaction with dolphins is at Monkey Mia in Shark Bay where the dolphins have come in since the 1960s. The dolphins turn up every morning to interact with the public. Monkey Mia is 850km north of Perth .
The other place dolphins come to the beach is at Koombana Bay in Bunbury at the Dolphin Discovery Centre.
In both cases you get to have your feet in the water and the dolphins mingle around. Rangers educate people on how to interact with the dolphins.
The best thing about interacting on the beach is that the dolphins have voluntarily come in to see us, the humans. Often a dolphin will come up close, roll over slightly and for a precious moment there’s a magical connection. There’s nothing quite as exciting as when a wild creature from the sea looks you in the eye.
DOLPHINS IN WA From a boat
Dolphins are attracted to boats. They love surfing the bow and wake of the boat and that means we get a great view of them swimming along, leaping into the air. There are numerous boat tours that offer dolphin experiences from Bunbury in the south, Mandurah and Rockingham and again in Shark Bay up north. Some even have dolphin sighting guarantees. If your lucky, you might jag some pics like these.
Shark Bay has many dolphin and sea life cruises. Contact the visitor centre.
Swim with the dolphins
How cool would it be to be in the water swimming with the dolphins! For the ultimate experience, its time to jump in the water with the dolphins. Don the snorkel, mask and fins so you can see the ease of how dolphins move through the water, while being underwater yourself. Seeing them porpoise through the water, makes me feel so ungainly in the water. Bunbury and Rockingham are the pick for this experience.
Of course you can jag a dolphin experience randomly up and down coast of the Indian Ocean or in the Swan River where there is a few pods that can regularly been seen fishing. Go for a walk along the river, west of the city and you may just have a very natural dolphin experience. We see them regularly near the Claremont jetty as they herd fish into the bay.
Seeing Dolphins in the wild is so satisfying because they are such majestic animals.
Do you have another dolphin hotspot in WA that we need to know about? Comment below and let us know!