Active Pursuits

Meeting the Dolphins

At 7am, guests at Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort are already gathering on the beach (as are the resident pelicans) in quiet anticipation of the dolphins' arrival. By 8am, three or more dolphins usually show, and they come and go until the early afternoon. Because of the crowds the dolphins attract (about 40 people a session in low season, busloads in high season), park rangers instruct everyone to line up knee-deep in the water as the playful swimmers cruise by your legs. You may not approach them or reach out to pat them, but they sometimes come up to touch people of their own accord. Feeding times are different each day, and the quantities are strictly limited, so the dolphins won't become dependent on the food. Apart from the Monkey Mia Reserve entry fee, there is no charge to see the creatures.

A Great Sea-Life Cruise, "Living Fossils", and More

Don't do what so many visitors do -- see the dolphins, then shoot off to your next sight. Stay to see Shark Bay's incredible marine life on the sailing maxi-catamaran Shotover (tel. 1800/241 481 in Australia, or 08/9948 1481; www.monkeymiawildsights.com.au). During a 3 1/2-hour dugong (manatee) cruise, you may see hammerhead sharks, sea snakes, turtles, dolphins, and, of course, dugongs -- and possibly have a swim in the bay. Every passenger is given polarized sunglasses, which help you spot animals underwater. The cruise departs from Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort at 1pm daily and costs A$89 (US$80/£40) adults, half-price for children 7 to 16. The Shotover also runs a fascinating 2 1/2-hour dolphin cruise at 10am -- worth doing even if you've already seen the dolphins on the shore. It costs A$69 (US$62/£31) adults, free for children under 17. Sundown cruises are a fast-sailing evening option, September through January, at A$54 (US$48/£24) adults, half-price children 7 to 16. Package prices are available.

On your way in or out of Monkey Mia, stop by the Hamelin Pool Historic Telegraph Station (tel. 08/9942 5905), 29km (18 miles) from the highway turnoff. A small museum houses old equipment, farming tools, and historical odds and ends from the 19th-century days when this was a telegraph repeater station. The A$4 (US$3.60/£1.80) admission fee to the museum includes an explanation of the stromatolites, rocky formations about a foot high that were created by the planet's first oxygen-breathing cells -- in other words, earth's first life. You might want to skip the museum, but do wander down to the shoreline and stroll out along a boardwalk to see them close-up. (Warning: They look, and act, just like rocks!)

Nearby Shell Beach, 43km (27 miles) from the highway, is amazing. The beach is said to be 110km (68 miles) long and over 10m (33 ft.) deep, made up of billions of tiny snow-white shells; the numbers are incalculable. They crunch beneath your feet as you walk along and stretch beneath the rich, clear blue water. Solidified blocks of the shells were quarried nearby to build many local buildings. There is a cafe and gift store.

The conservation plan "Project Eden" is reintroducing and protecting various endangered marsupials, such as bilbies, woylies, and wallabies, to the isthmus. It has built an electronic fence across the peninsula at its narrowest point here, to keep out cats and foxes; there's even an electronic "barking dog" to deter the predators.

The northern part of the peninsula, beyond Denham and Monkey Mia, is the 52,500-hectare (129,675-acre) Francois Peron National Park. You can explore its salt pans, dunes, coastal cliffs, beaches, and old homesteads, either alone (you will need a four-wheel-drive, but stay on the marked road -- the claypans, known as birridas, are seriously boggy) or on a full-day tour with Monkey Mia Wildsights (tel. 1800/241 481; www.monkeymiawildsights.com.au). The scenery is harsh, but there is great coastal beauty, where the red cliffs meet beaches fringed with vivid turquoise water. You should spot wallabies, birds, and emus, and you may see turtles, dolphins, rays, dugongs, and sharks from the cliffs. Other activities include game- and deep-sea-fishing trips from Denham, scuba diving, excursions to the deserted beaches and 180m (590-ft.) cliffs of nearby Dirk Hartog Island, and a couple of pearl-farm tours.

Save on Park Passes -- Entry to many national parks in Western Australia, including Cape Range and Francois Peron, costs A$10 (US$9/£4.50) per car per day. If you are planning to visit a few, a Holiday Park Pass is worth the money. It costs A$35 (US$32/£16) for a vehicle carrying up to eight people and is valid for 4 weeks in all WA national parks. Obtain passes from the Department of Environment and Conservation (www.dec.wa.gov.au). The passes are not valid for Monkey Mia Dolphin Reserve.