Swimming with Dolphins in the wild!

Dolphins in the wild

On my facebook I said, “I swam with dolphins.” One person commented by asking if I had been to discovery cove.  No these are wild dolphins just swimming by our boat.  Whenever we see dolphins I have noticed that if you give them attention they stay and if you ignor them they leave.

2 days ago we moved to be closer to this reef off of the buoy markers. On our way there Ben just noticed a fin and said, “Dolphins!” So I turned the boat around. We were motoring. And we kept going in circles as the dolphins kept playing by the boat.  A few other boaters joined us in the meeting and celebration.  Annie wanted to badly to jump and swim with them but there was too many other boats coming and going so we offered her to kayak around them.

Her and Chelsey hopped in kayaks and paddled as close as they could get.  Which is pretty close, a few feet or so.  There was this cute baby dolphin hanging around momma. The dolphins finally left and we were on our way.

We snorkeled the reef. This time we found a huge lobster. It was so big we could not get ourselves to kill it to eat it.  Even though I have wanted to catch a lobster, this one seemed to old and too special to eat! I guess it will be chicken tonight.

Later in the afternoon, after we had snorkeled again. I don’t remember who spotted them but the call, “Dolphins” rang out again.

Dan looked at me and said, “Are you going in?” I quickly responded, “Well yeah!!!” Dan was so excited, just like I was. I turned to get my snorkel gear and poof, Dan just jumped in the water without his mask or fins.  He did not want to miss anything! Ben saw that the dolphins were just going under him.  I through Dan his gear.

I got suited up with utilities to help me be more fish-like, snorkel – to keep my head focused at the dolpins, Mask so I can see under water, fins so I can be Flipper too!

I was waiting for the dolphin pair (mom and babe) to pop up when Dan said, “They are right under you!” My head looked down and there were two dolphins just staring up at me! I waved and tried to make dolphin noises so as to show them how happy I was.  (Yes one of my favorite parts about Finding Nemo is when Dori talks whale. I got to talk dolphin!) Then the 4 of us, Dan, me, mommy dolphin and baby all swam along together.

The baby was just as curious about us as we were about her.  She looked up at us with her eye and followed our movements.  Mommy gave her a little bit of space and we just swam with the baby.  We are probably 6 feet above them. Once you dove down you would be within 1 foot of their tail. We would lose sightings of them and pop up they would come.  By this time Annie and Chelsey were just getting in the water.  The dolphins hanged around for a long time.  Long enough for each of us to have a swim with the baby and almost feel like we could touch them. 

I was so surreal. Just like a dream!

There was a connection between us all.  The baby wanted to play and twirl around in circles. The mom was comfortable enough to give her baby a fun experience. Something I will never forget.  Afterwards I kept repeating, “We swam with dolphins!!” Ben once again sacrificed the swim for pictures and he has amazing pictures!

I can’t describe the look of inquisitive-ity when that baby looked up at me.  We both totally smiled and cherished each other and gave thanks to our creator.

Here goes Annie and Chelsey and Dan back to the frozen tundra. Now we welcome Dave and Jess!