Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary

Open dai­ly.

Vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, book­ings and park management:

Black Hill Nation­al Park and Wildlife Ser­vice Office
Phone: (+61) 7133 7300
Email: DEW.​NPWSNorthLofty@​sa.​gov.​au

Emer­gency contacts:

Med­ical, fire (includ­ing bush­fire) and police emer­gency sit­u­a­tions
Phone: Triple Zero (000)

Police Assis­tance
Phone: 131 444 for non-urgent police assistance

Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice SA – Duty offi­cer
Phone: 0427 556 676

Injured wildlife:

With­in the park
Please con­tact Black Hill Nation­al Park and Wildlife Ser­vice Office on (+61) 7133 7300 or the duty offi­cer on 0427 556 676

Out­side of the park
Please con­tact a local wildlife res­cue group

Marine mam­mals
If you find a sick or strand­ed marine mam­mal (includ­ing whales, seals, sea lions and dol­phins), please con­tact Black Hill Nation­al Park and Wildlife Ser­vice Office (+61) 7133 7300 or the after-hours duty offi­cer on 0427 556 676 (out­side of busi­ness hours)

Dol­phins and oth­er wildlife use the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary all year round. Because of the pro­tec­tion pro­vid­ed by man­groves and oth­er types of veg­e­ta­tion, there is always a pro­tect­ed spot to enjoy the water, even on the days when weath­er is not that favourable.

The best time to spot the Sanc­tu­ary’s dol­phins are on calm days with lit­tle wind, when you can eas­i­ly see the dol­phins on the water’s surface.

Sum­mer

Sum­mer is the dol­phin calv­ing sea­son in the Sanc­tu­ary, so it is the per­fect time to spot a female with her new­born calf, a spe­cial and unique sight. It’s also the per­fect time to spot migra­to­ry shore­birds feed­ing with­in inter­tidal zones.

Autumn

The autumn months are usu­al­ly the best time for calm winds; so pack your cam­era, a jumper, and head on down!

Win­ter

Dur­ing the cold­er months dol­phins are often found around areas of the Inner Port. Here you will be reward­ed with an impres­sive view from the ele­vat­ed points around the Port Ade­laide water front. Win­ter also brings great num­bers of long-nosed fur seals and even endan­gered Aus­tralian Sea Lions to the Sanc­tu­ary breakwaters.

Spring

As the warmer weath­er approach­es, why not grab a pic­nic blan­ket and head down to Gar­den Island for some dol­phin watch­ing. Hint- while you are there keep your eye out for oth­ers using their cam­eras, it gen­er­al­ly means that there are some dol­phins nearby!

The south­ern end of the Sanc­tu­ary is locat­ed only 20 min­utes’ dri­ve from the city of Ade­laide and is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble from the His­toric Port Ade­laide. Oth­er access points to the Sanc­tu­ary include Gar­den Island, St Kil­da, Snow­dens Beach, Out­er Har­bour and North Haven marina. 

Assis­tance dogs are per­mit­ted in most pub­lic places and are there­fore wel­come in South Australia’s parks and reserves. Assis­tance dogs must be appro­pri­ate­ly restrained on a lead and remain under your effec­tive con­trol at all times while in a park or reserve.

As per the dogs in parks and reserves pol­i­cy, if the dog is not an accred­it­ed assis­tance dog, they must be trained to assist a per­son with a dis­abil­i­ty to alle­vi­ate that dis­abil­i­ty and meet stan­dards of hygiene and behav­iour appro­pri­ate for a dog in a pub­lic place. How­ev­er, refusal may be giv­en if the per­son with the dis­abil­i­ty is unable to pro­duce evi­dence the dog is an assis­tance dog with the appro­pri­ate training.

Before tak­ing your assis­tance dog into a park that does not nor­mal­ly allow dogs, it is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed that you con­tact us so we can pro­vide you with the lat­est infor­ma­tion on any poten­tial haz­ards with­in spe­cif­ic parks that may affect your dog. Please con­tact the park via the con­tact details pro­vid­ed under the con­tact tab or con­tact the vis­i­tor ser­vice cen­tre via email or on Face­book.

Dogs are wel­come in this park.

Please ensure you:

• Dogs must be under effec­tive con­trol or on-lead. 
• Bring dis­pos­able bags to clean up your dog’s fae­ces (please be aware there are no bins in nation­al parks).

Dis­cov­er oth­er parks you can walk your dog in on our find a park tool or read 17 nation­al parks in Ade­laide where you can walk your dog by Good Liv­ing for inspiration.

Along the shore­line bound­ary of the sanc­tu­ary there are numer­ous, coun­cil and pri­vate­ly owned, facil­i­ties that might be use­ful to visitors.

Pic­nic area/​BBQ

• Gar­den Island
• Snow­den’s Beach
• Largs Bay Foreshore
• St Kil­da

Boat ramps

• Map of boat ramp loca­tions in South Australia

Three species of dol­phin are found in South Aus­tralia: the Indo-Pacif­ic bot­tlenose dol­phin (Tur­siops adun­cus), found in coastal waters such as those of the the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary; the com­mon bot­tlenose dol­phin (Tur­siops trun­ca­tus), which live along ocean­ic coasts and in the deep water off South Aus­tralia; and the short-beaked com­mon dol­phin (Del­phi­nus del­phis), which may be seen in the gulfs but usu­al­ly inhab­it deep­er waters.

In the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary there are approx­i­mate­ly 40 Indo-Pacif­ic bot­tlenose dol­phins that are fre­quent­ly observed, with more than 300 of var­i­ous species record­ed as vis­i­tors. Exten­sive research has been under­tak­en by the Whale and Dol­phin Con­ser­va­tion, and Dr Mike Bose­ley, on the behav­iour and life-cycle of the sanc­tu­ary ani­mals and the adverse effects of human interference.

Indo-Pacif­ic bot­tlenose dol­phins grow to around 2.5 metres in length, and weigh about 160 kilo­grams. They live for up to 40 years. Like whales, dol­phins breathe through a blow­hole on the top of their heads.

Dol­phins can dive to depths of more than 500 metres, but they must sur­face for air every few min­utes. Dol­phins have excel­lent vision above and below the water.

Most bot­tlenose dol­phins are high­ly socia­ble and often can be observed as part of a group known as a pod. These pods of up to 15 dol­phins hunt, play and help pro­tect each oth­er. Most mem­bers of the pod are unre­lat­ed, although moth­ers may stay with their off­spring for up to eight years. Adult males gen­er­al­ly form sep­a­rate bach­e­lor groups of two or three, form­ing bonds that may last a lifetime.

Females usu­al­ly become sex­u­al­ly mature between the ages of five and 12 and males usu­al­ly become sex­u­al­ly mature between the ages of 10 and 12. Bot­tlenose dol­phins may breed through­out the year, but they usu­al­ly give birth to their calves in late sum­mer. A female may be preg­nant for up to 12 months and a calf may suck­le for as long as 18 months, remain­ing with the moth­er for many years. Local females usu­al­ly pro­duce off­spring once every three to four years.

A nat­ur­al bond is formed between female dol­phins and those preg­nant or with calves. These group­ings are called ​“mater­ni­ty pods”. When dol­phins are first born they are usu­al­ly about 1 metre in length and dark in col­or. They tend to be born tail first and are able to swim and breathe with­in min­utes of birth.

Human activ­i­ties are threat­en­ing the sur­vival of dol­phins. Pol­lu­tion, stormwa­ter and rub­bish rep­re­sent a major threat affect­ing food sup­plies. Sanc­tu­ar­ies like the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary are vital to ensure the con­tin­ued sur­vival of these won­der­ful creatures.

More infor­ma­tion

• Respond­ing to Dol­phin Inci­dents in the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary
• Keep­ing marine mam­mals safe in the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary
• Research in the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary

• Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary — User Guide 
• Boat­ing rules about marine mammals 
• 5 things you’ll find at the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary from the Good liv­ing Blog
• Park man­age­ment plans and ref­er­ence papers
• Annu­al reports
• An Under­wa­ter Guide to plants and ani­mals in South Australia
• Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanctuary
• Encounter Marine Park
• Upper Gulf St Vin­cent Marine park
• Marine mam­mal strand­ing information

Bot­tlenose dol­phins can be found in the sanc­tu­ary all year-round. Over the past 20 years, sight­ings of dol­phins have increased, which sig­ni­fies the impor­tance of this area for the species. In the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary, there are about 40 res­i­dent dol­phins, but up to 400 vis­i­tors have been record­ed. These vis­i­tors like­ly use areas adja­cent to the Sanc­tu­ary, such as the met­ro­pol­i­tan coast. Some of the Sanc­tu­ary’s dol­phins even trav­el as far south as Glenelg, and can be often seen swim­ming in the Patawa­lon­ga Lake. 

But dol­phins are not the only marine mam­mals with­in the Sanc­tu­ary. Long-nosed fur seal and endan­gered Aus­tralian sea lions haul out on the Sanc­tu­ary’s break­wa­ters after they have spent sev­er­al days at sea for­ag­ing for food. It is impor­tant not to dis­turb these ani­mals as they require lots of rest before they return to sea.

The man­groves and salt­marsh with­in the sanc­tu­ary pro­vide vital habi­tat for juve­nile fish. Their roots offer pro­tec­tion from preda­tors and pro­vide a nurs­ery habi­tat. Stingrays are often found inhab­it­ing the shal­low waters and com­mon­ly seen species include eagle rays, smooth rays and fid­dler rays. Sharks also swim into the Sanc­tu­ary on rare occasions.

The Sanc­tu­ary is home to many species of birds includ­ing some rare and endan­gered species. Sea birds often seen include pel­i­cans, cor­morants, terns, oys­ter-catch­ers and ospreys. Between Sep­tem­ber and March, the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanc­tu­ary Nation­al Park in the north­ern parts of the sanc­tu­ary becomes an impor­tant feed­ing ground for migra­to­ry shore­birds. Many of these migra­to­ry shore­birds trav­el from as far away as Siberia and Alas­ka, pass­ing through up to 22 coun­tries as they trav­el the East Asian-Aus­tralasian Fly­way to reach the coast of Gulf Saint Vincent.

Flo­ra and fau­na species lists

To down­load flo­ra (plants) and fau­na (ani­mals) species lists for this park, use the ​‘Cre­ate Sim­ple Species List’ tab under ​‘Flo­ra Tools’ or ​‘Fau­na Tools’ in NatureMaps.

Cauler­pa taxifolia

Cauler­pa tax­i­fo­lia has been iden­ti­fied through­out the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary. This is a high­ly inva­sive pest algae species with the poten­tial to spread through to Gulf St Vincent.

There are a num­ber of ways you can help stop the spread.

The Kau­r­na Peo­ple have lived with­in Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary area for thou­sands of years. The area con­tin­ues to hold impor­tant val­ues for the Kau­r­na Peo­ple. His­tor­i­cal and cur­rent asso­ci­a­tions are still in place and need to be pro­tect­ed. Sev­er­al tra­di­tion­al sto­ries are con­nect­ed with the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary area, includ­ing The Wan­der­ings of Tjirbruke.