Swimming with Dolphins, Almost

Friday, February 10, 2012

First, let me say that I did not do it, but I was there when others did and I recorded it on my camcorder.  So if you want to just skip this article, go ahead - I won’t be offended.

Dolphins of several different species live in the wild in and near the Bay of Islands in northern New Zealand.  The water is warm and the food supply keeps them healthy.  The apparently also don’t mind interacting with humans as it stimulates their native intellect.  It’s for that reason that dolphins have been taken captive and swim in the pools and ponds of resorts in Hawaii, Mexico, Florida and other locations.  We heard from people here that dolphins in captivity only live an average of 6 years from the time they are captured and one of the reasons is that living in a pool is not very stimulating.

So how do dolphins spend their time in the wild?  Twenty percent of the time they are feeding, twenty percent of the time they are sleeping and the other sixty percent is devoted to frolicing with dolphins of the opposite sex.  Females can store sperm and can choose which sperm they wish to have impregnate themselves.  Pretty good birth control, huh?

Several cruise companies advertise “swim with dolphin adventures” in Paihia.  We chose Dolphin Adventures and reserved a spot on the afternoon adventure.  The big yellow boat had seventeen passengers and three crew aboard.  Of the seventeen paying customers, two were over the age of 25 and their last name was Seim.  The skipper piloted the boat, his co-captain was in charge of assisting passengers and the ever-present photographer was snapping photos which he hoped to sell back to the passengers at the end of the cruise.

There are some 140 islands in the Bay of Islands and we headed out to the most remote of them, a little triangular rock they called Ninepin because it looked like a pin and it was nine miles out from Paihia.  Up close it was fairly large and populated by migratory birds who coated the rock in white you-know-what.

Beyond Ninepin we were in open waters of the blue Pacific looking for dolphins.  We were encouraged to help the crew scour the horizon but warned that if our dolphin turned out to be a piece of driftwood, there could be some recourse to our continuing as a passenger.  It was advised with tongue-in-cheek by the skipper.

There were a couple other boats out there scouring the same seas and the captains had radio contact with them to share information.  We were told that if we failed to see a dolphin or whale we were to be given another free cruise.  Dolphin viewing, guaranteed.  Within a few minutes of spotting other ships it was announced that dolphins were just ahead.  Prepare to swim!  Sure enough, there they were, cavorting in the water.  They swam up close to our boat and we kind of spun around in the water so the best views were from the back of the ship where swimmers were to enter the water.

We were told that the crew needed to check out the pod of dolphins first before swimmers could jump in to make sure there were no juveniles in the group of dolphins.  Swimming around them would disrupt their nursing, which happens every twenty minutes for a young dolphin.  I guess the crew saw no juveniles because they began handing out swim masks, frog fins, and snorkel tubes to those who wished to swim, advising them to assemble on the rear deck.  They lowered a platform and gave some last minute instructions in English, which many of them probably didn’t understand since they were from other countries.

“Make a lot of noise in the water.  Splash around to keep the dolphins’ attention!  Swim right towards them.  Look down in the water to see them.  Stay out there and keep swimming around.”  Into the water went fifteen white bodies, flailing away at the water.  The dolphins swam away.  Another group out there seemed more interesting.  “Come back to the boat,” the skipper commanded.  “We’ll try again.”

Fifteen swimmers returned to the platform, huffing and puffing.  They pulled themselves up on the boat, walking backwards because of the fins on their feet.  The boat did a few circles in the water and then headed off in a new direction where more dolphins were spotted jumping around in the water.  Instructions were repeated and this time thirteen bodies went into the water.  There were now four of us watchers, two commanders and one photographer taking it all in.  The group was more successful this time in engaging the dolphins rather than scaring them away.  Again they returned to the boat, out of breath from treading water.

The third time most of the swimmers went back into the water and were joined by the photographer who took his underwater camera along.  One guy did a good job by swimming around freestyle and creating enough commotion in the water that the dolphin was entertained.  The photographer was the last one back on the boat and he set to work downloading his photos and burning DVD’s for those who wanted to spend an addition $62 to see themselves.   The boat went back to cruising towards a nearby island where the tour operators had established a little bar/cafe.  We were given a half hour to enjoy sitting on the beach and consuming $7.50/bottle beer.  Then it was back in the boat and we headed to our port-of-call, Paihia.  Another hard day of vacation behind us but one we will remember thanks to the video, the photos and the credit card bill.