Monkey Mia

have never sailed Monkey Mia, however I have flown up there. It is certainly windy, and some sailing is done. There appears to be little swell. The following report describes the area a little, and the main reason it is a tourist attraction, DOLPHINS. Details about the dolphin viewing can be got from the Monkey Mia Home Page

Monkey Mia lies about 1000km north of Perth. This map shows it's position up the coast. It is a great flight, and you can see the main sailing spots on the way up. It is a well known spot for its native dolphins, that visit the beach every day.

Unfortunately, although you can see dolphins at VERY close range, the viewing is very controlled. This is probably necessary, since they attract large crowds, and even thought they are quite tame, they can get a little annoyed if you treat them wrongly. A dolphin is a very powerful animal.

We decided to fly from Perth to Shark Bay (just West of Monkey Mia) and hire a car from there. There are several commercial flights to the area, however, as I have a pilots license, we decided to fly ourselves.

I did a check flight at Amity Aviation a small flying school in Jandakot (15km South of Perth). The School is a family business, and the CFI is Trevor Baxter. Initially I did an area reconnaissance flight with John Barker in a Grumman Tiger, since the Arrow that I was to do a check flight in was unavailable. The Tiger is an excellent Aircraft (I had never flown one before) and we had a great hour identifying in-bound/out-bound points, playing inside the Perth CTR and doing some circuits.

Subsequently to that, I did a check flight in the Arrow I was to take to Shark Bay with Trevor. Again, whenever you fly with someone new, you see some different techniques, and get some good advice.

We left Jandakot after waiting for some low cloud to lift, and tracked Coastal to Geraldton, where I refueled, and thence flew on to Shark Bay.

There is a lot of sightseeing to be done around the area, and you really need a car to get around the place. We did the dolphin thing however, and another attraction of the area is the very tame, and large pelicans.

Accommodation

A great place to stay is a the Monkey Mia resort. Details can be found on their web page. Other places can be found in and around Denham, which is just a short (not too distant) drive from Monkey Mia itself.