Koombana Bay

Koombana Bay Drive approx 1km to the Bunbury town centre. Bunbury is a city with full services available.

I have had the wonderful privilege of swimming with the wild Bottlenose dolphins at Koombana Bay a few times. I don’t know what it is that attracts so many people to want to be close to dolphins but once you have swam with them you will want to do it again, you will be hooked under their mysterious spell. The best way to gain information about this place and the dolphins is to go to their website.
This is a great site and I see no need to repeat all their information.
http://www.bunburytourism.org.au/ddc/pages/core.html

Beware! The dolphins spell will get you too.

Update: I returned here with my family in December as my daughter desperately wanted to swim with the dolphins again. Dolphins can be seen frequently in Mandurah, Rockingham, Bunbury, Shark Bay and other places along the Western Australian coastline but here you can swim with the added protection of a calm bay, experienced volunteers who love to share with you their stories and photos and its all for a tiny entrance fee. This entrance fee now gets you into the Discovery Centre and to watch a video on these dolphins. (Did you know dolphins have a dark side?)

Also it apparently is against the law to swim with wild dolphins in Western Australia and you should leave the water if wild dolphins approach you. (That's if you can swim over 50km hour). You could receive injuries swimming with wild dolphins.
Here, these dolphins only come into shore if they want to, they are wild, and occasionally you may have to leave the water if the volunteers think it necessary to do so. The dolphins do not come in every day and do not come at a set time but early morning from around 7.30-11.30 would be the most visited times. There is no show and they do not perform tricks. You may see them naturally playing with the waves or boats or even an octupus!

Click here to see a video of this dolphin.

This was Chantelle, they are named to make it easier for the centres recording and research. She came in on the second day that we visited and stayed for around 40minutes. She had no hesitation to come within a few metres of the people in the water. You are allowed to swim and play but you are not allowed to touch them as these are not tame dolphins. Unfortunately on this day the weather was cold and the water was freezing so no one was jumping around or swimming although around 30 people stood in up to their thighs. (My daughter went a shade of blue but was not going to leave the water while the dolphins were in). The dolphins like to check out all the people in the water and move in and around people if you leave space. Sometimes the mothers bring in their calves and they will play and frolic around people.
Two dolphins came in this day, sometimes up to 16 can come in even though the pod is bigger and can have up to 100 members.

Discovery Centre
Loggerhead turtles sometimes get washed up onto the shore line between September and November. People walking along the beach find them and they often end up at the dolphin Discovery Centre where they are fed and taken to Perth where they will be transported further north up the coast and released.

On display I saw this baby Loggerhead turtle. Click on these photographs below to see a larger image.

They don't age well do they?

Here you can see the bitten flipper.

Here you can see the back flippers tucked up

Go here to see our pages on Loggerhead Turtles

This little baby boy Loggerhead turtle is 3 months old. It hasn't been released as it hasn't grown as rapidly as its peers and it has also been bitten on the flipper by a crab.
But hopefully it will make a full recovery and soon be on its journey to freedom. Other wise this little guy will grow to its full size and be bigger than this tank.

You can volunteer to help out at the Discovery Centre for both local and overseas people.

We regret we do not have the time or resources to cover more marine life.

I have had the wonderful privilege of swimming with the wild dolphins at Koombana Bay. I don’t know what it is that attracts so many people to want to be close to dolphins but once you have swam with them you will want to do it again, you will be hooked under their mysterious spell. The best way to gain information about this place and the dolphins is to go to http://www.bunburytourism.org.au/ddc/pages/core.html

This is a great site and I see no need to repeat all their information.

Beware! The dolphins spell will get you too.