Swimming with Dolphins!

Yes!!  Swimming with dolphins!

Well, after a walk round the bay this morning to the “encounter centre” and a hurried and a breakfast that I felt I ought to eat rather than wanted to, due to my excitement, we were all fitted for wet suits and fins and hoods and gloves before getting into them. 

They are delightfully ....tight and restrictive, you can hardly breathe in them.... wondered if I have a rubber fetish I never knew about!

Moving on......

After a briefing on what we would be looking forward to, off we went on the bus to a bay around the other side of the peninsula, where the dolphins hang out.

Dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus Obscurus) are about 1.6- 1.8m in length and are notoriously curious and inquisitive.   They are very vocal and also particularly acrobatic and energetic and leap and somersault often....possibly to attract mates, possibly just cos they can and it’s fun!

The females come into season once a year to breed, however they have sex socially and for fun all year round, in fact, the dusky dolphin is so promiscuous that one female was seen to have had sex with 5 different males within the space of 2.5 minutes!!!  And they weren’t even footballers.

They have a lifespan of about 20-30 years and the orca is really their only predator other than humans and there are very strict laws about hunting them, though often they are killed when people are fishing for other things, or they choke on rubbish.

Anyway.. The water was about 10 degrees.... ie fucking freezing.  The initial shock was breathtaking and my toes were numb in seconds.  But it didn’t matter – I was swimming with Dolphins!!!

We were told that as dolphins live in a world of sound those making noises, especially high pitched ones, and singing attracted them to come and check you out, as well as diving down when you see them so that they can really see you....

It was amazing.  We had at least 5 swims, (we had to get back on the boat and follow the dolphins around.).. But there were loads of pods that just came to check you out when you were in the water too.

Singingwise, I found that they weren’t that interested by anything from the Sound of Music or indeed any other musical, however old folk songs seemed to work well.  (Particularly “Daisy Daisy” for me, but obviously with the word “Dolphin” substituted for Daisy. And you try singing that through a snorkel!)

I dived down, and suddenly I was surrounded by them, spiralling round me and above and beneath and all whooshing past me so close I could touch them (but you are told not to, as this is not good for them)  I  was able to have eye contact with them as they came to see what I was and why I was making such a peculiar noise, and one in particular who swam around with me for a while before the rest of the pod came over , circled me and then swam away.

As we had to go in two groups and I was in the first, we got to watch the others as they went in as we had our hot chocolate and ginger cookies, and got dry, laughing at the noises they were making as they tried to attract the pods.

I also saw a “medium sized” albatross i.e. it’s wingspan was "only" a little over 2m whereas the big ones have up to a 3m wingspan and weigh over 10 kilos! But it had me skipping about with excitement nonetheless.

We were only in the water for an hour but that is WELL enough at those temperatures, and trying to keep up with dolphins is really hard work...I love the water had usually feel fairly agile in it, however I felt like a total klutz next to the dolphins!

The Dolphins swam with the boat for some way leaping and diving around us as we left as if to say goodbye and wish us well or possibly because they just enjoyed racing the boat.... but it was one of the most wonderful experiences I have ever had, to look into their eyes and see intelligence and interest.

And I met a nice man called Stuart with whom I am going out for dinner with tonight too.