Do you know you can feed wild dolphins for Just $10 around Brisbane? There’s a 50-year history of dolphins interacting with humans here. It is said that since the first injured dolphin was rescued by humans in 1950, dolphins come every morning to forage, continuing to this day. People start queuing up at 7 am, and for 10 Australian dollars per person, you can feed one fish to a dolphin. It’s an activity that kids really enjoy!
Location: Tin Can Bay (Google map search the name “Dolphin Feeding Tin Can Bay” directly and you’ll find it) Feeding wild dolphins costs only $10 here!
If you are planning to stay here, the town has plenty of motels, or you can stay in the Sunshine Coast or Hervey Bay, both within a 1-2 hour drive.
As known to all, the most famous place for feeding dolphins in Australia is Moreton Island! A day trip costs $139-150 per person, and you must book well in advance to secure a spot for dolphin feeding! If you can’t get a spot, you might have to stay on the island for a night to get the chance. This island has become a popular tourist destination, with accommodation costing at least $200 per person!
This time, we recommend the other place besides Moreton Island where you can feed dolphins, and no reservation is needed! Just arrive around 6:30 am and queue up.
Since these are wild dolphins, the policy prohibits touching them to protect their hunting skills. Each dolphin can only be fed 10 fish per day, and there are usually four dolphins. So, they can sell up to 40 tickets daily, costing $10 per person. If the tickets are sold out, you can still watch without feeding for $5, but, at 8:00 am, if you only want to watch, you don’t need to buy a ticket because most people have already left, and everyone is busy feeding the dolphins.
Remember to turn off the camera flash to avoid harming the dolphins’ eyes. According to the law, swimming or making contact with dolphins is prohibited.
“Deliberately swimming or diving (including the use of SCUBA or hookah gear) with whales and dolphins is prohibited unless under the authorisation of the relevant state, territory or Australian Government agency.“
If you don’t get a ticket for feeding dolphins in advance, don’t worry. You can wait and might be able to grab some additional tickets towards the end. Earlier, we bought tickets to feed the fish for $5 each and managed to feed the dolphins again!
After reading the introduction on this Dolphin feeding website, we learned that the habit of these wild dolphins coming every day to forage originated in the 1950s. The first injured dolphin sought human assistance at the wharf. The second dolphin appeared in 1991, also injured in a battle among the dolphins, and started the habit of coming to the wharf every day to enjoy the generosity of kind-hearted Australians. The third dolphin, injured in a struggle with a shark in 2007, shamelessly attached itself to the warm-hearted community of Tin Can Bay. With the help of volunteers for ten days, it gradually recovered. Now, the fourth generation of dolphins comes every day to enjoy free meals and drinks!