Today it would be the total sea life experience. Monkey Mia was on our agenda and we were anxious what it would hold in store for us. As it is known for the dolphins coming up to the beach for breakfast we were likely to see some of those, but everything else came as a surprise. 
When we arrived at 9.15am we were lucky enough to catch the last five minutes of dolphin feeding for they only feed the dolphins the first three times they come to the shore, between 7am and 11am, and only up to a third of their daily need to make sure they don't stop hunting for themselves. Apart from that Monkey Mia itself is pretty boring, a giant caravan park, a restaurant, some little shops and the Visitor Information Centre for the Reserve; that was about it. Nothing to spend a whole day at. What they did have was a very nice beach so we went for a swim , very close to land, just in case..... nice, but nothing for a full day's lenght. When we left the water again Harald sure enough spotted three, three stingrays lying just below the waterline at exactly the spot we entered the water. Ok, they were rather small, but hey, they still can hurt you. Since reading Frank Schätzing's "The Swarm" I'm not comfortable in the sea anymore. And I used to have webs and gills.....
We decided to book a sailing trip ( I love sailing.... ) on a racing catamaran and it was worth every cent.
They took us to where the dugongs feed in the seagrass, we saw big sea turtles, different sharks, more dolphins, eagle rays, sting rays ..... it was brilliant. Call me insane but I even took another swim in these shark infested waters (remember me panicking before we came here?) and it was lovely, clear water and 29 degrees warm, you could see down to the ground 2.5m away. The sail finished with a nice cruise along the coast right until sunset and despite the slogging start we drove back with the feeling that we had just experienced an outstanding day by the sea.
When we arrived at 9.15am we were lucky enough to catch the last five minutes of dolphin feeding for they only feed the dolphins the first three times they come to the shore, between 7am and 11am, and only up to a third of their daily need to make sure they don't stop hunting for themselves. Apart from that Monkey Mia itself is pretty boring, a giant caravan park, a restaurant, some little shops and the Visitor Information Centre for the Reserve; that was about it. Nothing to spend a whole day at. What they did have was a very nice beach so we went for a swim , very close to land, just in case..... nice, but nothing for a full day's lenght. When we left the water again Harald sure enough spotted three, three stingrays lying just below the waterline at exactly the spot we entered the water. Ok, they were rather small, but hey, they still can hurt you. Since reading Frank Schätzing's "The Swarm" I'm not comfortable in the sea anymore. And I used to have webs and gills.....We decided to book a sailing trip ( I love sailing.... ) on a racing catamaran and it was worth every cent.
They took us to where the dugongs feed in the seagrass, we saw big sea turtles, different sharks, more dolphins, eagle rays, sting rays ..... it was brilliant. Call me insane but I even took another swim in these shark infested waters (remember me panicking before we came here?) and it was lovely, clear water and 29 degrees warm, you could see down to the ground 2.5m away. The sail finished with a nice cruise along the coast right until sunset and despite the slogging start we drove back with the feeling that we had just experienced an outstanding day by the sea.
