When I was six my favourite television show was Flipper. Mum and Dad didn’t share my enthusiasm, and as much as I begged, pleaded and whined, they wouldn’t buy me a dolphin. Oh, I got plenty of dolphin posters, inflatable dolphins for the backyard pool, even a Flipper T-shirt. But it wasn’t the same as a real one.
Thirty years later, I still get a thrill when dolphins frolic in the bow waves of boats or I spy seals and sea lions on rocky points along the coastline. So I decided it was time to get up close to some real live creatures of the deep.
My date with dolphins is at Sea World on the Gold Coast, which begins with seven friends and I easing onto a submerged platform in a man-made deep-water lagoon pool. Our marine playmates, Zac and Sirius, quickly swim up to see if we have any fish.
Responding to hand commands (and a few snacks) from Sea World’s dolphin trainer, Claire Holland, they slowly swim past, allowing us to stroke their velvety backs. At Claire’s instruction, we slide into the water, and before we know it, there are two huge dolphins swimming and diving around us, clearly comfortable with the human interaction.
As we tread water, Zac and Sirius perform tricks, surging up to leap through our outstretched arms, floating on their backs while we stroke their bellies, beating their tails on the surface to make sure we are thoroughly wet and for the finale, posing with us while we hug them for a photograph.
“Sea World’s interactive animal programs are all about teaching people about these amazing marine mammals,” explained Claire. “It’s great to spend time with them in their own environment,” she says, as she makes a barely perceptible hand movement and the two dolphins jump out of the water right on cue.
The Dolphin Aqua Adventure Program is available to adults (14 years and over) and includes a souvenir photograph. You must be able to swim. For children, there is a modified program in shallow water.
Group sizes are limited to 12, so it’s safest to pre-book by calling (07) 5588 2400 between 10am and 4pm or online at www.seaworld.com.au. You can buy any unsold tickets at the Dolphin Encounters sales booth located at the main entrance of Sea World from 9am until sold out. All guests, including children, wishing to participate in a program must be present when purchasing tickets.
NEW: Visitors to Sea World can now also swim with sharks.
More information: visit www.seaworld.com.au/entertainment/animal_interactive.cfm
When: Each morning and afternoon
Call: (07) 5588 2400
The Sea World dolphin encounter gave me a taste of interacting with marine animals but I wanted more. So I headed to Baird Bay on the western side of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, where Ocean Eco Tours offers half-day trips to swim with wild sea lions.
From the sleepy collection of houses that is Baird Bay (population 6, 18 in summer), we set off upon the cold southern waters and cruised out to anchor a few hundred metres from a large breeding colony of 70 Australian sea lions, one of the rarest of seal species. The species currently number around 12,000; about two-thirds of these live in South Australian waters.
We donned wet suits, masks and snorkels and jumped overboard, paddling around the boat for 10 minutes until — without warning — a large, sleek sea lion head broke the surface inches from my face, quickly followed by two of his mates. For the next 20 minutes, the four of us — three 200kg wild animals and me — circled, swam and dived around, over and behind each other.
This was no theme park splash-about with trained, tamed and well-fed animals. These are wild creatures in their natural environment. I was nervous and somewhat timid at first, keeping my fingers and toes well out of reach, just in case they looked tasty.
But I soon realised that these guys wanted to play. The more I splashed and duck-dived, the more they responded. In fact, they seemed to mimic me almost exactly — when I circled so did they. When I surfaced, they came up for a look, too. When I dived, they followed.
Alan and Trish Payne have been operating Ocean Eco Tours at Baird Bay for eight years. Their half-day tours include swimming with sea lions, and depending on weather, swimming with the resident pod of bottlenose dolphins.
Unlike some wildlife watching tours that spend hours chasing harassed marine animals around a bay, this one is all about conservation. The sea lions are never fed, and all interaction is initiated by the animals. They come to you.
The three-to four-hour swim with sea lions and dolphins is available for adults and children. Masks and snorkels are provided and wet suits are available for hire. You must be able to swim, and parents or guardians must accompany children under 12. The best season is from September through to May.
More information: contact Alan and Trish Payne, Baird Bay Charters & Ocean Eco Tours Website: www.bairdbay.com
Call: (08) 8626 5017.
Sharks: If you really want to commune with sea creatures, how about a grey nurse shark? Les and Fran Graham of Terrigal Dive Centre on the Central Coast are the local experts. They run boat trips for experienced divers to an underwater cave, Foggy Cave, about 5 km from Terrigal Beach. From March to the end of May, these endangered sharks come here to breed.
Les says you can see up to eight sharks on any one dive.
“The sharks will come quite close to you,” says Les. “They just slowly cruise past you, very close and very slow, in a trance-like state, and look at you. It is such a beautiful thing.”
I’ll take his word for it. If you want to swim with sharks, you will need to be an experienced diver as the dive is 40m deep.
For more information, call (02) 4384 1219.
A school of grey nurse sharks can also be seen in Sydney waters, at Magic Point, a headland south of Maroubra Beach.
Contact local dive charters.
Stingrays: In the water out the front of Terrigal Dive Centre you can play with giant stingrays that measure six feet across the wing.
This is a do-it-yourself type of adventure — as long as you are a basic qualified diver, you can hire dive gear from the Dive Centre and Les or Fran will point you in the right direction. The stingrays seem happy enough to let you stroke them and are present in these waters most of the year around.
For more information, call (02) 4384 1219.
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