Mandurah Dolphin and Scenic Canals Cruise

Mandurah foreshore and Mandjar Bay

The cruise leaves from the booking office on Mandurah Terrace, right on the foreshore where the city meets the water. Mandurah, about 70 kilometres south of Perth, grew from a fishing village into Western Australia's largest regional city, and the foreshore is its living room: lawns, playgrounds, cafés, the war memorial and the boardwalk around Mandjar Bay, where the estuary opens out in front of the town. The old traffic bridge, first built in 1894 and since replaced, marks where the estuary narrows towards the sea.

Checking in 15 minutes before departure gives time for a coffee on the terrace and a look at the boats in the bay. For visitors asking what to do in Mandurah, the foreshore is the natural starting point, and a Mandurah boat tour from here shows the parts of the city that are built around water rather than roads.

The Mandurah estuary and its dolphins

Mandurah sits at the mouth of the Peel-Harvey estuary, a vast, shallow system of inlets fed by three rivers and sheltered from the Indian Ocean by a narrow channel. These warm, calm waters support a resident community of bottlenose dolphins that live here year-round, and the skipper knows their favourite fishing spots: the channel near the bridges, the sand flats and the edges of the canals, where they herd fish against the walls. The boat slows whenever a fin appears, and dolphins often surf the wake or come alongside to look at the passengers.

The commentary explains how the dolphins are identified by their dorsal fins and how the estuary's crabs, mullet and whiting keep them well fed. Dolphin watching in Mandurah is close to certain on most days, which is why the cruise offers a second trip at no extra cost if none are seen. Pelicans, black swans, cormorants and sometimes ospreys add to the wildlife count.

The scenic canals

The second half of the cruise enters the canal estates that have made Mandurah famous: kilometres of man-made waterways dug since the 1980s and lined with waterfront homes, each with its own jetty, boat and lawn running down to the water. The boat glides past some of the most expensive houses in the state, under low bridges and around islands of homes, while the guide points out the architecture and tells stories of the people who live here.

A Mandurah canal cruise is the only way to see this side of the city properly, because the canals are private water and the streets behind the houses show nothing. Allow this part of the cruise to be the most photographed: the reflections are best in the morning departure, and the afternoon light warms the house fronts on the western banks.

Mandurah as a day trip from Perth

Mandurah is the easiest escape from Perth: the train from the city centre takes under an hour, and the station is a short bus or taxi ride from the foreshore, which makes the cruise a natural centrepiece for a day out in Mandurah from Perth. Around the boarding point you also find the Mandurah Ocean Marina with its restaurants and the Dolphin Quay boardwalk, the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre on the water, and the walk across the bridge to the Halls Head beaches on the ocean side.

Pair a morning cruise with lunch on the marina and an afternoon at the beach, or an afternoon cruise with a walk along the estuary boardwalk at sunset. Families often add the children's playground on the foreshore and the crabbing jetties in season. Because the cruise lasts only an hour or so, it leaves most of the day free for the rest of Mandurah.