Diving with dolphins in the wild

[wrinkldogs]

Just wondering where the best place to encounter dolphins while diving in their environment, (not Anthony's Key like places) where they are free. This happened to us once while diving in Belize off St. George's Caye last April and it was absolutely amazing.

 

[vinegarbiscuit]

We regularly encounter spinner dolphins off the leeward coat of Oahu. Lots of dive operators leave out of Waianae boat harbor, and these's a very large pod of spinners that patrol the waters from Waianae to Kahe Point. They're easy to spot from shore - they're truly spectacular when they breach and spin! - and I've been fortunate to have them swim with us once or twice. I very frequently hear them chattering away during my dives, which is lovely. I end those dives with the most God-awful neck-ache from repeatedly scanning the surface for them when their calls become very loud, but it's so very worth it.

 

[smellzlikefish]

Oahu's dolphins are fun, the Big Island's dolphins may even be better. Kealakekua Bay almost always has a huge pod of dolphins toward the back. You can rent kayaks or just swim out to them. I've also seen them at Crescent Beach, BI, Portlock, Oahu, Pearl and Hermes reef, Kure Atoll, and Mokuho Oniki, Molokai. Maui and Lanai are said to have some friendly pods as well.

 

[divin'dog]

Just wondering where the best place to encounter dolphins while diving in their environment, (not Anthony's Key like places) where they are free. This happened to us once while diving in Belize off St. George's Caye last April and it was absolutely amazing.

Curacao might not be the best place, but I had encounters on 4 different dives in open water with dolphins during a week of diving. It was extraordinary! That's probably not a lot to some but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Encounters lasted anywhere from a few seconds, where they circle around a few times and swam off, to minutes where they became playful and swam in and around us while satisfying their curiosity. Definitely a higher level of intelligence than your standard Grouper...

 

[Doc]

.... encounter dolphins while diving in their environment, (not Anthony's Key like places) where they are free....

Roatan? You mention Anthony's Key, but there is often a wild pod that frequents the South shore area near First Bight & Iron Shore, a bit East of CoCoView. They are a fairly common sight and the boat captains will drop you in their path.

You do mention "diving" with them. Most of the wild critters I have seen aren't too fond of bubbles or submerged divers. They seem to be quite attracted to shallow and surface swimming snorkelers.

 

[robint]

We have been lucky enough to have dolphins join us underwater, diving, a few times.

Kona Hawaii... spinner dolphins, large pod of maybe 20-50 buzzed us on 3-4 dives over a week. WE could hear dolphins underwater almost every dive. We also had a bottlenose individual show up as we moored the boat on one dive but he didn't hang out long.

Cay Sal Banks, Bahamas on a liveaboard... we had a group of dolphins including several babies show up as we moored at a shallow site one morning. We all geared up and jumped in and they played with us for 5-10 minutes before leaving. It was very cool. I understand that in the Northern Bahamas areas many dive boats go looking for the dolphins to swim/dive.snorkel with them. I think that is your best bet.

Bonaire.... we were diving over at Klein Bonaire one morning and as our boat was returning to Buddy Dive dock, we encountered a pod of dolphins. The boat crew stopped the boat and let everyone get in and snorkel with them for 5-10 minutes.
We always see dolphins at the surface, riding the bow of boat heading to dive sites, but they are rarely at dive sites.

robin

 

[diver 85]

Gulf of Mexico off the La coast....we encounter them all the time while running offshore, have even 'petted' them off the pulpit of our boat while trolling, they LOVE running boats...

 

[tarponchik]

You do mention "diving" with them. Most of the wild critters I have seen aren't too fond of bubbles or submerged divers. They seem to be quite attracted to shallow and surface swimming snorkelers.

My impression too. Did snorkeling with dolphins in Kealakekua Bay, for example. But off Bonaire they seem to be attracted to us only while we were swimming on surface. Once we started descending, they vanished.

 

[Hank49]

Gladden Spit has dolphins during whale shark season here in Belize.
I see them from my boat quite often but it's hard to get close.
EXCEPT...for when I had a 115 four stroke (2001) Mercury outboard. For some reason ALL dolphins I came near loved that motor. They would come swimming up to my boat and if I slowed down, would follow me for 15 minutes or more. Really weird. I guess it was like me listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan or Lynyrd Skynyrd...they just loved the sound or something.
I've had 4 other motors before and since but none got that reaction.

 

[Manuel Sam]

The only trips that I know of that are specifically focused on dolphin encounters in the wild are those in the Bahamas and Bimini for Atlantic Spotted dolphins. In most likelihood, bottlenose dolphins will also be encountered on these trips. However, these are snorkeling and freediving only trips, since as mentioned by Roatan Man, dolphins - generally speaking - are not very fond of bubbles and perhaps the sound of bubbles. If wild dolphins is what you want, in my opinion, it doesn't get any better than this.

On scuba diving trips, dolphins are more of a chance encounter, but with that said, there are some places where encounters are pretty reliable.

Besides the places already recommended by others, I would suggest Socorros (Revillagigedos) Islands in Mexico, where I have had excellent encounters with bottlenose dolphins on all three of my trips there. Socorros is better known for mantas and sharks, but the dolphins there are quite diver-friendly and seem to seek out human interaction.

The dolphins in Cocos used to be a bit aloof, but maybe because they've gotten used to seeing more boats and divers in recent years, it seems to me that on my most recent trips there, they have gotten diver-friendlier and don't scoot the moment that you try to approach them. I wouldn't go to Cocos strictly for dolphins, but if you had always wanted to go there to see all the other big stuff, then maybe the dolphins would be a nice bonus.