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Not long after sundown, the beach end of the moreton Island jetty at Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort is abuzz. Visitors mill around on the wooden pier, edging for a vantage point. A murmur ripples through the crowd as grey shapes move through shallow, floodlit water. A pod of dolphins is swimming to the beach - tails and flippers splashing as they play. These are wild creatures that choose to come to the resort waters each night for feeding. As the dolpin handlers explain, they are not trained or tamed dolphins, only animals that have been returning for several years. Between five and eight dolphins usually arrive, and in any year, there are only a handful of nights when they don't show, usually because of bad weather or low tides. Tangalooma has trained staff on hand to help out. Guests wait as staff take one or two visitors at a time into the water. The curious dolphins swim toward them and wait at their feet. Guests are not allowed to touch or pat the dolphins. their reward is the trust the animalshave in swimming up and allowing themselves to be fed. The staff press a small, cold fish into the guest's hand and, without touchingthe dolphins, the fish is offered and taken. It is an encounter that is a highlight of many an experience of Moreton Bay and will remain with visitors for lifetime. There is a reference area at the Resort, where briefings are given about dolphins and other creatures that inhabit the bay and its waters. Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort has 150 units among the palms and pandanus, and it can be reached on the Tangalooma flyer, a 200 seat launch that takes just 75 minutes. |