Tangalooma Island Resort

It ended up happening that I got a great deal on a one-night stay at a resort on Moreton Island the weekend after my folks took off back to the states. It wasn't even high on our list, but at a third of the usual nightly cost and no night minimum, we decided to see what Tangalooma was all about.

Just an hour's ride by ferry takes you from the Brisbane River across Moreton Bay to a little slice of heaven called Moreton Island.  The water goes from brown to turquoise in a matter of minutes.  And, although you can see Brisbane's skyline on the horizon, you feel miles away from the city's hustle and bustle. White sandy beaches, calm, blue water and palm trees...yeah, it's kind-of our thing.





We only had about 24 hours on the island, but they make it pretty easy to do what you want and relax.  We spent the first afternoon wallowing in the shallow white sand shelf of a beach right in front of the resort.  It's perfect for kids with almost no waves and soft sand where you can literally walk 100 yards off the shore and still be knee deep.  The beach was littered with starfish, which was a first for me, and I was so excited about it that I found an unlucky victim to take home in the hopes of preserving it as a souvenir (it didn't quite work out like I hoped...who knew starfish stink? Sorry hon.).







That evening we were signed up for the highlight of staying at Tangalooma; their wild dolphin feeding.  They have a group of 5-10 dolphins that swim in each night from the bay where they make their home to fill their bellies.  Moreton Bay is home to the largest population of bottle nose dolphins in the world, so it's fitting that a few of them have stumbled upon this ritual. As the sun set, you could see them swimming towards the pier where the crowd was waiting, and they put on a show that I'd say rivals any Sea World performance.  Jumping, twirling and thrashing about; chasing fish; and making the gathering of onlookers laugh out loud, it was so much fun to watch.



The feeding itself was an awesome experience and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who visits Brisbane and has an extra day or two.  We literally stood in line for 15 minutes as families got their food (dead fish) and hiked their clothes up to walk into the water where the dolphins were waiting.  I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of aggression or agility, for all I knew it would happen at lightening fast speed and the whole thing would be done before we could blink.  Boy was I wrong.  These lovely, gentle creatures swim up slowly and patiently wait for you to place the fish in their smiling mouths.

We had a sweet dolphin named Nari, who had an interesting story you might have seen on Animal Planet.  When Nari was a just baby, he swam into Tangalooma one night with his mom for the feeding.  It was the first baby dolphin ever to show up at the island attraction and the crew was excited.  Several months later Nari appeared one night without his mom, who was never seen again.  It was speculated that she was killed by a shark.  Nevertheless, Nari continued to show up for dolphin feedings for years as he grew into a mature dolphin.  One night when he arrived he was badly injured by a great white's bite and the Tangalooma crew didn't know how to help.  He swam off after eating and the crew called in the aide of Sea World vets from the Gold Coast.  When the vets saw the damage the next night, they agreed that Nari's prognosis was shady.  They had never seen a dolphin with as much damage done to it's blow-hole area survive such a large bite.  Skip to the end of the story and Nari is obviously still alive and well, with a large white scar on it's head to prove his brevity.  We felt so privileged that this was the dolphin that we got to meet and feed. Here we are with Nari...such a memory!



The next day we walked down the beach (2 km.) to see the Tangalooma Wrecks; a series of 15 boats that were deliberately sunk to create a manmade reef.  We thought we could snorkel right off the beach to the ships, but we were so wrong.  Several LARGE boats were anchored in between the wrecks and the shore and with them coming in and taking off it made for some very dangerous conditions.  Add in a violently strong current and we decided it was best to keep our feet dry that day.  It was still cool to see these rusty old relics out in the middle of such pristine water.

We headed back on the 2pm ferry shuttle and were home in time for dinner.  As I said earlier, I would highly recommend this little jaunt from Brisbane.  It's paradise right off the mainland!  In summary, here are the pros and cons of Tangalooma & Moreton Island from our perspective:

Pros:

• Super close to Brisbane - only an hour away by ferry and very easy to do as a day trip or weekend trip.
• Beautiful, calm water with white sandy beaches.  Perfect for families with small children. (And parents who don't want to do anything but lounge in shallow, beautiful water all day)
• Dolphin feeding - a must!  Spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime experience with knowledgeable staff and a commendable effort to educating visitors about marine conservation.
• West facing island, so it's one of the few places on the East coast of Australia where you can        actually watch the sun set.  Magnificent!
• Clean, updated, comfortable rooms with suites and villas available too. 

Cons:

• Ferry ride is expensive.  It cost us more to travel to the island (over $200) than it did for our room.
• You really have to bring your own food and snacks because the tiny little shop on the island is ridiculously expensive, and the food that we ate at the resort left much to be desired. Who screws up cheese pizza?
• You can't bring your own alcohol with you because it's a "protected" island.  Not sure what the difference is between drinking your own beer, vs. buying it at the resort for $10 a pop. 
• Pools are not what I consider up to resort standards, so if you vacation for the pool and not the beach, then this is not your spot.
• It's a nickel and dime kind-of place.  You obviously don't want to bring the house when you travel over to the resort by ferry, so things like pool noodles for kids are out of the question, as is a huge stack of beach towels for a family of five.  So, when you ask the resort if these things are available there and they tell you yes, they would be wise to include the price.  Noodles were $15 each to rent for the day and beach towels incurred a $20 deposit PER TOWEL (plus you had to return them by a certain time of day!).  I don't mind vacationing at a resort where they charge more for everyday items...don't we all expect that?  But this place was a little beyond reason.  

Aside from all the pros and cons, we would gladly return and suggest it to friends and family who visit Brisbane.  It was such a fun experience for all of us, and we'll never forget feeding Nari.