Sunrise Dolphins

This was a fairly short night. I booked a tour for dolphin encounters and had to get up at 4:30 to be at the dolphin center in time (briefings, wet suits etc.). I was never a big fan of dolphins to be honest. And the ways they are usually kept in captivity is a another matter (I remember my elephant encounter in Thailand). However, here it is different. It is us who visit the dolphins in their natural habitat. And if you want to see them, you got to entertain them, not the other way around.
So we went on the boat and could witness an amazing sunrise on the ocean (see pictures). Afterwards our captain would look for one of the dolphin colonies and we would get into the water. God, that water was ice cold, and the wet suits would barely keep warm (especially not the bare feet).
The early morning is the best time to meet dolphins, but they just get up and some of them are still a bit sleepy. So in order to attract them (or wake them up), you have to sing to them. Dolphins live in a world of sound. That alone was an experience. Twenty freezing swimmers in the morning sea producing the most hilarious variations of noises. I for my part used a deep humming. And indeed. It works pretty well. It would only take a minute and the first dolphins would come and check you out. I really mean check “you” out. They were not interested in us as a group, but some would come to one or the other swimmer. Sometimes you would be surrounded by five dolphins swimming with you with just 20cm distance in every direction. You swim basically as part of their swarm (if you are fast enough). Then some would try to talk to you with their click sounds. Others would just swim to you from the front, stop right in in front of you and look into your face. Whenever they get bored by you they just bugger off and our skipper brings us to a new spot. It was an amazing experience. Felt more like playing with children than with animals. I can really recommend it.

17. April 2016