Monkey Mia

Three years ago, I was standing in the aqua blue waters of the Indian Ocean with dolphins cavorting about my feet. It hardly seems possible.

Monkey Mia is the place ("Mia" is the Aboriginal word for "place") where the ship "Monkey" docked in Shark Bay, about halfway up the western coast of Australia.

Sometime in the 1960s bottleneck dolphins started visiting the Bay and interacting with humans. Over the years the keepers of the park have worked this habit of the wild dolphins into a tourist attraction. Up to 25 dolphins have been known to visit. They come on their own and are fed up to 3 times a day between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. They don't feed them after 1 because they don't want them to become dependent on humans for food.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• travel
• Australia
• dolphin

[kanga888]

i got picked to feed one of them!

[basykes]

I'm jealous!

[rachelfae]

Actually Mia is the Malgana (local aboriginal group) word for "home" or "shelter" - it looks more like a hut made from bark and other material ;-)

[basykes]

Sorry! I got my information from the local guidebooks.

[Chelseafcfan27]

the guidebooks will tell you no one is sure why monkey mia is called monkey mia. Capes will tell you the same

[drusillasdollhouse]

There bottleNosed dolphins

[FemaleStallion]

^^b