Shotover Wildlife Cruises - Monkey Mia

While staying at the Denham Seaside Tourist Village Caravan park we headed over to Monkey Mia to join a wildlife cruise aboard the Shotover catamaran (Origin of the Mermaid Myth Tour aimed at spotting a Dugong). This is a three hour cruise around Shark Bay spotting as much of the wildlife as possible - we saw dugongs, sea snake, dolphins, turtles, eagle rays, tiger shark and cormorants (they even have a policy where you can join another cruise for free if you don't view animals to your satisfaction).

The Shotover is an 18-metre ocean racing catamaran, offering various sailing experiences throughout the day. All cruises are backed by a $100 no seasickness warranty, for all fare paying passengers - I must say it was very smooth sailing during our trip and no seasickness concerns for RvTrips. They also offer a 4WD tour through the Francois Peron National Park and they will pick up from Denham or Monkey Mia accommodation. I would highly recommend this if you don't have a 4WD as the colours within the park are amazing.

Included in the price of our adventure was the opportunity to join the Sunset Cruise that leaves Monkey at 5:30 pm each evening  to enjoy views of the sun going down over Monkey Mia and Francois Peron National Park -  we have some great photos. You did not have to take both cruises on the same day and we booked our Sunset Cruise for a later date. 

The Monkey Mia booking office for Shotover Wildlife cruises can be found at the far left hand end of the beach front boardwalk when you are facing the beach - just past the Boughshed Restaurant. The Shotover catamaran leaves from the Monkey Mia Jetty which is very convenient as we arrived early to join the Monkey Mia Dolphin Expereince, then enjoyed morning tea at the restaurant before walking to the jetty to join the cruise. There are toilets on board and plenty of seating on deck with a shade awning across the back deck to get out of the sun.  

The crew on board were happy and friendly and were always on the lookout for the next creature in the water - we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise and would recommend this a a thing to do when visiting the Shark Bay World Heritage Area.