swimming with dolphins?

[Karen Es]

Hey, I'm back to post great questions ...
As some of you know or read in previous posts, I went to NE Brazil to dive. But finally it was easier to find dolphins rather than finding dive spots.
So, I swam with dolphins, without fins, without snorkel or any other equipment. Just myself (and some others, of course) and 4 dolphins coming to the bay where I was swimming to eat! (in fact, I saw fish jumping out of water and dolphins following their prey).
My question is, have you ever had an experience as this one? Must sure you have, it would be great to read your stories of fantastic encounters!!! (pics wellcome!).

Cheers,
Karen

 

[ScubaGypsy]

Do the bubbles from open circuit scuba scare the dolphins? I've seen plenty of dolphins following around charter boats but they seem to be long gone by the time we enter the water.

 

[hvulin]

if you don't have food they loose interest very fast...
(they are too smart)

babies like to come close and have a look around you but grownups will usually prevent it!

btw. dolphins are protected animals in some countries (in Croatia for example)! If so, you should not touch them or try to follow them. If they come to you, fine but don't force it... If you are on a boat and see dolphins in front of you (at least here) you should change course and let them pass without disturbing them!

 

[DBailey]

I have had a few encounters...

--In the Galapagos, we had a pod of dolphins circle us a few times before going on their merry way.

--Also in the Galapagos, we had a couple riding the bow wake of our Zodiac. It was really neat being that close to them while they were jumping out of the water and such. We were treated with them tail walking, front flips, back flips, jumps and more. By far my best dolphin experience.

--In the Bahamas, my buddy and I had two dolphin come and swim around us and with us for about 10 minutes.

--In Roatan, we had a pod that we snorkled with during a surface interval. This was more of occasional sightings once we got in the water, but they were really chatty.

 

[Karen Es]

Well, guys,
I was only swimming and looking at the coastline. My buddy was looking at the sea, and saw the dolphin surfing the wave just behind me!!! The minute he told me to look at the dolphin, it was there behind me, and of course I love interacting with fish, but follow the "do not touch" rule. I could have easily extended my hand to touch this nice dolphin (I thought it was a baby one)...
Some boats with those trying to swim wih them were close throwing bait to the water (didn' t have luck though). It seems they prefer to chase the pray.

Do not forget to share your close encounters!
Karen

 

[Diver0001]

Do not forget to share your close encounters!
Karen

This dolphin joined our threesome during a dive last December in the Red Sea. My buddies were behind me swimming side-by-side and the dolphin came along side me like that, I guess emulating what the other two divers were doing. Lucky for me the photographically inclined buddy was holding the camera when it happened. Once it joined us the dolphin stayed with us for the rest of the dive (about 1/2 hour). Much of the time it was only an arm's length away.

R..

 

[D_O_H]

I was performing the underwater navigation portion of a class in about 30' of water while our instructor watched from shore. We were supposed to make a square underwater while the instructor watched our bubbles. My buddy and I went out, made a nice leisurely square underwater, surfaced and then hurried back to shore because our instructor was obviously really worked up about something.

When we got close enough to hear him, he was demanding to know what the dolphins were doing. "What dolphins?" we asked.

Apparently, a big pod of pacific white side dolphins was over us for almost our entire dive doing crazy acrobatics and stuff. He thought they must have been playing with us and we must have been having the dive of our lives. Unfortunately, I neither heard them nor noticed them - I guess I was too intently focused on my compass and counting out 30 kicks for each side of the square we were supposed to be making. I think he was ready to kill us for being so clueless.

I've been on a ton of dives in Monterey since and have not run into any dolphins underwater.

 

[aedavidson]

I was on a liveaboard in Belize in January and had an awesome dolphin encounter. They hung around playing for about 5 minutes and we were not feeding. I will attach some of the pics, I have many more. It was the by far the best diving experience that I have ever had.

 

[ScubaGypsy]

Wow, very cool pics! I guess that I'm rather surprised that there have been so many encounters as I thought that the bubbles from OC scuba would play havoc with their sonars such that the dolphins won't come near when diving. Clearly in these pictures they don't seem bothered at all. What great diving experiences!

 

[ZzzKing]

My wife and I were diving in John Pennecamp Park off Key Largo two days after Rita blew through. We were on the City of Washington and had just come to the end of it and were about to turn back to the boat. Suddenly we were surrounded by a pod of dolphins! I counted five. They circled us once at what looked like arms length (probably closer to 10' in reality), chatting up a storm, and were gone. It was our first saltwater dive, too!

Back on board the divemaster said that only happens a couple of times a year and that we were really lucky.