A highlight of a visit to Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort is the chance to feed wild bottlenose dolphins. Every evening a pod of dolphins swim up to jetty at the resort to be hand fed fresh fish by marine biologists, resort staff and resort guests.

Many years ago, the dolphins started coming to the waters round the resort jetty to feed on bait fish that were attracted by the jetty lights. In 1992, one of the dolphins began to eat fish that were thrown to her from the jetty. Other dolphins in the pod started to join in the nightly feeding. There are now between eight and ten dolphins attending the feeding sessions.

Dolphin feeding is great fun for children and the grown ups too – if you have small children, you can carry them in to the water to feed the dolphins. Swimming with the dolphins or patting them is not allowed, though. When you arrive at Tangalooma Wild Dolphin resort, head over to the Marine Research and Education Centre to register for any activities you are interested in. To ensure you don’t miss out on the dolphin feeding, you will need to arrive at the jetty by the scheduled feeding time. The program operates to strict guidelines with restrictions on how many people can feed the dolphins. The number of guests able to feed the dolphins depends on tides, weather and how many dolphins turn up.

From the resort there are other opportunities to get close to wildlife. In the mornings, you can enjoy hand feeding fish to the resident pelicans and on the beach. If visit during the whale migration season from July to October, you will have the opportunity to take a whale watching cruise from Tangalooma to get a close look at these great sea mammals.

Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort is set amongst landscaped gardens and natural bushland on Moreton Island east of Brisbane. There is a variety of accommodation options available from hotel rooms to suites and self-contained villas.