This should be something on every visitor to Australia’s bucket list; hand feeding wild dolphins at Tin Can Bay in Queensland.
One of my most memorable experiences road tripping Australia was right here in Queensland; hand feeding wild dolphins at Tin Can Bay! There aren’t many places in the world that you would be able to do this and so, without doubt, this has to be added to your Australian bucket list.
Tin Can Bay is a small town on the East Coast of Australia situated just below the southern tip of Fraser Island, 96km north of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast and 220km north of Brisbane. Whilst Fraser Island and perhaps Rainbow Beach steal the limelight, it’s not every day you get to feed wild dolphins though at Tin Can Bay you can actually do that. Yes, I mean every single day.
A pod of 9 Australia Humpback dolphins head to the Barnacle Dolphin Centre at the marina in Tin Can Bay each and every day for approximately 8am. They are wild animals of course so they might not always be the best timekeepers! The Australian Humpback dolphins live in the river and estuaries rather than out at sea and are said to be quite shy. It’s incredible then that you can actually hand feed wild dolphins at Tin Can Bay!
ADD TO YOUR BUCKET LIST: FEEDING WILD DOLPHINS AT TIN CAN BAY
As I said above, you’re going to have to have an early start to feed these dolphins. Head to Barnacles Dolphin Centre at the marina for around 7am to get a good parking space and ensure that you’re in the group that gets in the water!
There is a fee of just $10 per person which includes one fish that you hand feed to one of the dolphins. It’s not an experience that lasts long but is certainly one that you will remember forever. It was great to listen to the volunteers introducing each of the dolphins; they are all clearly passionate about running the Barnacles Dolphin Centre and ensuring that we all get to experience hand feeding wild dolphins!
There are some rules obviously – no touching the dolphins as this is prohibited by law and you can get fined up to $8,000, don’t use flash photography and just follow all of the volunteers’ instructions as you can’t go wrong then.
If you have time beforehand or afterwards, perhaps before you continue your journey, make sure you stop by the Barnacles Café for a bite to eat and a coffee or a tea. The café is open from 7am to 3pm every day.
Should You Visit Tin Can Bay?
Well, yes, if you fancy doing something so unique and extremely rare whilst visiting this region of Australia. It’s not that much of a detour from the main road at all especially if you factor in a trip to Rainbow Beach. My wife and I still talk about our visit to Tin Can Bay to feed wild dolphins and I’d love to take our daughter when she’s older too; it’s a once in a lifetime experience for sure!
Where to Visit Near Tin Can Bay?
I’m guessing that the majority of visitors to Tin Can Bay and this region of Australia will be on a road trip from Sydney to Cairns (or vice-versa). I mentioned above that there are some great places to visit not far from Tin Can Bay including the beautiful Fraser Island and Rainbow Beach followed by Maryborough (the birthplace of the creator of Mary Poppins), Bundaberg and Noosa.
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