We could be heroes.
And now ladies and gentlemen here are your beloved
volunteers. Please make way and welcome them to the beach. Put your hands
together for Julie and Marcel. And the crowd goes wild.
 |
| The Champions walk. |
It
didn’t really happen like that. However, somehow it felt
like we were champions walking into Wembley stadium for an FA cup final. That
first ever feed of the dolphins at Monkey Mia. In our hands holding buckets, with two or three fish each, that we defrosted and weighed
carefully in the fish room. A crowd of 180 people on the beach with their backs turned to us as they are watching the dolphins in the
shallow. We walked across the sand and moved slowly through the crowd to our chosen dolphin. The
crowd is prompted to move their feet out of the water back onto the beach while we, the volunteers, get to stand right next
to the dolphin in the water.
 |
| Shock taking it all in. |
The first dolphin I fed was Shock. To greet me she shot a
full repertoire of dolphin clicks at me. Shock than rotated diagonally sideways
to look straight at me. I was actually a bit shocked with the attention she gave me.
She moved right along side of me while I was handing the fish to… sorry, I cant remember who from the crowd. Absolutely
mesmerised I went through the process of feeding the other two fish with two more
crowd picks. The ranger who was standing next to me at the time later laughed
at me and said that I was calling Shock “mate” all the time even though she's a female. I guess I was just
waffling nonsense that first time. The final act of the feed is rinsing the empty bucket in the water. Shock and the others
cleverly knew immediately that this was the end of snack time and super gracefully slid away
from me. This is the moment I won't forget, as unexpectedly, I choked up and was
looking through a haze of tears at the dolphins as they disappeared into Shark Bay. Where did this reaction come
from?
 |
Marcel handing a fish to a member of the crowd
with dolphin paying close attention. |
Has life as a semi-grey nomad finally been
rewarded?
Every time we went into the water to feed these beautiful creatures something amazing happened. Julie received a belly rub from a pregnant Surprise. Surprise was always
nudging our legs carefully to hurry up with that fish already.
 |
| Julie being touched by a dolphin. |
A large pelican named Rogue appeared at times. We always
had to cut up a little extra fish for her as she snapped her beak wildly in the
air as if imaginary flies were attacking her. We were told she was blind in one
eye and needed redirecting away from the buckets of fish at the beach. No other
pelican behaved like this. I was lucky enough to have the job of distracting Rogue to keep her away from the
fish buckets during the dolphin feeds. I told Rogue in no uncertain terms she
should not be a bloody galah and would not get a fish if she
didn’t behave. Luckily she did behave. After taming Rogue I was dubbed the "Rogue"
whisperer by the rangers who even wrote this on my volunteering certificate.
 |
Jacob aka Michael Keaton counting
the people on the beach. |
We met an amazing couple that were volunteering with us.
Jacob and Sabina luckily new what the routine was and showed us how to record
every gram and dolphin sighting. After feeding time there were many chores to be
done without much pressure and plenty of time for tea and free bikkies.
 |
| Sabina having fun in the fish room. |
The whole scene on the beach is controlled by two rangers.
All the rangers at Monkey Mia were friendly and helpful. Best of all they
looked like they were enjoying themselves as much as we did.
Finally - let's do some mathematical brain damage here. If
there are 180 people on the beach - four dolphins eating 10 fish, what are your
chances of being picked to feed and get up close to a dolphin? Very little you say?
Go volunteer at Monkey Mia. It is a privilege.
Semi-grey nomad tips and links.
- Feed the dolphins the fish head first. It slides down better.
- If you'd like to volunteer contact Department of Parks and Wildlife Shark Bay District Ph: (08) 9948 1366 | Fax: (08) 9948 1512 | www.sharkbay.org
I wish I could swim!
Like dolphins!
Like dolphins can swim!
(David Bowie, Heroes)
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