If its wild Bottlenose Dolphins you like then Monkey Mia is absolute must do! With many variations as to where the name come from it is widley accepted that the word Monkey derived from a pearling schooner named Monkey that visited the area in the mid 1830's.

The word Mia is an Aboriginal word for shelter. Monkey Mia is a smaller coastal resereve managed by Conservation and Land Management, is situated in the larger 8240 sq km Shark Bay Marine Park and 24 km from the nearest township of Denham which is the most western township of Australia!

The area was opened up to the pearling and fishing industries in the 1890's but it wasnt until the 1960's it became well known for the friendly dolphins gathering on the forshore hoping to get an easy feed from a fishermen and wife who would feed them at the end of there fishing trip.

Word spread fast and eventually visitors swamped the area to observe the dolphins arriving for there daily interaction with humans at the beach. Its not too often you can stand knee deep in the water with dolphins swimming arround you!