Guide to Monkey Mia
From friendly dolphins to vivid desert-meets-ocean vistas, Monkey Mia and World Heritage-listed Shark Bay offer adventures like nowhere else on earth.
At Monkey Mia (850km/530mi north of Perth), wild dolphins have been dropping by for generations, garnering international fame. But Monkey Mia and the wider Shark Bay region have more than friendly mammals to offer. World Heritage-listed for its natural assets, this is a wild, arid landscape of massive skies and stiff ocean breezes. Striking ochre sand dunes dive into turquoise waters; where emus splash in the shallows and dugongs raise babies in swaying seagrass. The world’s oldest living culture thrives, as do stromatolites, some of the world’s oldest living lifeforms. There’s European history here too, being the site of Australia’s first European landing in 1616, and even today, modern explorers will find much to discover about Monkey Mia and Shark Bay.
Top things to do in Monkey Mia
Meet Monkey Mia’s friendly dolphins
Wild bottlenose dolphins have been visiting Monkey Mia since the 1960s. Rangers control the experience, giving a talk each morning. Several lucky visitors are chosen to help offer a couple of fish, but swimming with the dolphins is not allowed.
Spot dugongs from a cruise
Shark Bay is a haven for vulnerable dugongs, home to about 10 percent of the world’s population. Spot them from a wildlife cruise on a sailing catamaran, also checking for turtles, manta rays and sharks. Cool off by riding in the boat’s boom net.
See one of the world’s oldest lifeforms
Looking like giant boulders, the stromatolites of Hamelin Pool are living fossils, colonies of microscopic cyanobacteria like the first lifeforms on earth, 3.5 billion years ago. View them from the interpretive boardwalk or the shoreline.
Visit the beach built by shells
At Shell Beach, you won’t find a single grain of sand. This beach is 100 percent shells, the Hamelin cockle to be exact. The animals thrive in the extra salty water, and trillions of their tiny white shells pile up on the shore, 10 metres (33 feet) deep.
Take a full day marine safari
Shark Bay Marine Park is famous for incredible wildlife and spectacular scenery. Join a marine safari to the most westerly mainland point, Steep Point, and snorkel a sheltered bay. Learn about Indigenous and European history at Dirk Hartog Island.
Explore historic Dirk Hartog Island
Dirk Hartog Island is where Europeans first recorded landing on Australia, in 1616. It’s been a sheep station, and is now mostly a national park. Book a stay at the gorgeous eco-lodge, or take a day trip by boat, including a four-wheel-drive tour.
Meet the sharks with a marine biologist
Just outside Denham at Ocean Park Aquarium, all visits include a tour with a marine scientist. Watch sharks feeding in the open lagoon pool, meet rescued turtles, and learn about clownfish, sea snakes and stonefish. Grab lunch at Ocean’s Restaurant.
Learn about continuing Indigenous culture
Join Wula Gura Nyinda Eco Cultural Adventures to explore while learning about the area’s significance to the Nhanda and Malgana Aboriginal people of Shark Bay. Choose between kayak, stand-up paddleboard, four-wheel drive and night didgeridoo tours.
See vivid Francois Peron National Park
Take a 4WD tour in the giant national park that extends into the marine park. Stop at Skipjack Point to stroll the boardwalk and from the clifftop, spot rays, turtles, and sharks. See the contrast of aqua water against rusty sand dunes.
Check out the World Heritage centre
In the Shark Bay World Heritage and Visitor Centre, find out why the area is World Heritage-listed for four separate criteria. Learn about First Nations and European history, and view an exhibit on the World War II sinking of the HMAS Sydney.
Visit a working pearl farm by boat
Take a boat to Blue Lagoon Pearl Farm to learn how these aqua waters produce luscious pearls. Buy a stunning souvenir, or just enjoy the spectacular red colours of the Cape Rose cliffs. Keep an eye out for wildlife like dolphins, mantas and turtles.
