Hi <BR><BR>Where can I swim with dolphins in Austrailia in Oct/Nov??<BR><BR>Failing that where would be the best place to do some dolphin watching?<BR><BR>Many thanks<BR><BR>Jo

You can watch and swim with Dolphins at Seaworld on the Gold Coast or you can go and play with them at Tangalooma Resort on STradbroke Island off Brisbane

Hi Jo,<BR><BR>If you are looking for somewhere close to Sydney then I can recommend Port Stephens for Dolphin watching. There is an extensive Dolphin tour industry there with very nice vessels equipped with underwater video camera's and boom nets to get up close and personal. There are around 200 hundred dolphins that call the Port home so you are pretty much assured of getting some quality viewing.<BR><BR>If you want a website to look at for more info then try:<BR><BR>www.portstephens.org.au<BR>www.cruisei n.com.au<BR><BR>Cheers<BR><BR>Paul

woops I meant 2 hundred dolphins - sorry about that. 200 hundred dolphins would make for a pretty congested habour. LOL

Jo- if you want to just swim with dolphins, not take part in a program, there are quite a few that play in the surf off Tamborine Street in Mermaid Beach most of the year. My husband met them while surfing and was first freaked out to have them swimming along side, then enchanted by watching them. My brother surfs the spot regularly, says they are often there.

My partner and I went to a lovely place called Monkey Mia.The dolphins swim up to the beach but are in the wild.It is in Western Australia I dont know if you are going there(there is also great snorkling on the reef off that coast.<BR>Enjoy!

I certainly hope you decide to try and find a wild dolphin excursion and not a 'swim with dolphin park' where they are captive.<BR><BR>Over half of the dolphins captured for these parks that survive the violent capture will die within 90 days. It violently disrupts social groups, splits up families and snatches individual animals from the water. The act of capturing dolphins for these parks betrays the trust of dolphins who often come to play at the bow of the capture boat, only to be netted and hauled aboard, an incredibly traumatic ending to an innocent and joyous behavior.<BR>The average lifespan of a dolphin in the wild is 45 years; yet half of all captured dolphins die within their first two years of captivity. The survivors last an average of only five years in captivity.<BR>Every seven years, half of ALL dolphins in captivity, whether captured or born in the parks die from capture shock, pneumonia, intestinal disease, ulcers, chlorine poisoning and other stress related illnesses. Some even commit suicide. Yes, dolphins can and do commit suicide. They hold their breath until they sufficate. They do this because they can no longer stand the stress of life in captivity doing stupid tricks for humans. To the captive dolphin industry, these facts are accepted as routine operating expenses. <BR>Dolphins are trained by food depravation, that's the ONLY reason they do these stupid tricks.<BR>Sure, they look happy while you watch the show and 'swim with them'. Have you ever watched them after the show? They will bang their heads against the walls. They will swim in repetitive circles with their eyes closed, or simply just float at the surface. These are signs of depression and boredom. <BR>Look behind the dolphin smile.<BR><BR>www.dolphinproject.org<BR>

I don't know where Dolphin lives or what his/her adgenda is but Sea World at the Gold Coast in Australia is the place any/all injured Dolphins go for treatment. I have never seen any dolphin bang its head no look bored, actually quite the opposite actually as they all look extremely well, happy and are thriving and multiplying. <BR>You are obviously one of those stupid fringe greenies who lives off lies and propaganda

Obvoiusly, Mary didn't bother to read anything on www.dolphinproject.org or she would know I do not live off lies or propaganda. Unfortunately, those dolphins are NOT happy. "Thriving and multiplying"? What a joke. Although seals and sea lions may breed readily in captivity, only a few species are held in large enough numbers to sustain a breeding population. Whales and dolphins, on the other hand, do not breed well in captivbity. Some species have never produced surviving offspring, while the calves of others suffer high mortality rates. Therefore, many of the marine mammals on public display in the worlkd still come from the wild. Mary, I'm sure you've never observed these mammals after the show is over to see how depressed how they. I have. Richard O'berry, the original trainer of 'flipper' has spent the last 25 years trying to get captive dolphins released. He decided to spend his life doing this after his favorite 'Flipper' who was a female named Cathy, died of stress in his arms. If anyone knows of the lives of dolphins in captivity, he does. <BR>Wake up and get the facts, Mary, before you make a fool of yourself.

Dolphin you are an idiot. You are about as one sided as those that tie themselves to trees or lie down in front of bull-dozers. Get a grip and snort some more coke

Oh Mary. I gave you a chance to redeem yourself. To get some facts. To educate yourself on this subject. I gave an you an excellent web site to learn the truth. If you do a search on 'captive dolphins' you'd know I speak the truth. You don't listen, or don't care. With you, it's all about trying to insult someone who knows what they're talking about. Did I hit a nerve with my facts? I'm not the one who's the idiot here. <BR>I'm sorry, you take that prize.<BR><BR>