The song of the dolphins

Tuning in with grandma´s old tube radio

This last June we often had the pleasure to spend our weekends with our friends Gaelle and Laurent. Both were quite intrigued by the presence of dolphins which lead to a rush to the kayak whenever they appeared. Gaelle usually won.

The day was getting late, the sun was slowly setting when we encountered a group of four adults. Now you need to know that dolphins, when they are in their pod, are not excessively interactive and might just allow you to accompany them, but they will never become really playful. When they are in a small bunch however, they sometimes let go of their inhibitions and let their curiosity roam freely.

So there we were, with these four big adult dolphins, swimming down all the length of the beach. Each time we slowed down, they would turn back, pick us up again, and continue. Until both Gaelle and I got very tired. It is a hell of an effort to follow dolphins. Their movement look so effortless while we struggle against the water.

After a good 20 minutes and approximately 400m I was completely out of breath and I pulled myself up into the kayak. We used a transparent kayak that day. It is wonderful to watch the dolphins watch you through the bottom of the device and follow their path zigzaging along, but this kind of kayak is treacherous as it can sink. Once it collects water it is at risk. So getting in and out in open sea is a challenge. I peeled myself back in and then watched Gaelle struggle back into the boat listening with amusement to her curses.  I realized then that our four dolphins were still out there circling the kayak. Strange I thought, it looks like they are calling... I looked at Gaelle, having had collected my breath in the meantime, and decided to give it another try, jumping back in...

Now what happened next was mind boggling. The four dolphins got very excited and swam circles around, under and over. A clear skinned dolphin swam belly up right underneath which is apparently an invitation to cuddle. We turned into one ball of excitement getting very close, but never touching. The most stunning thing was that they opened all the communication channels. The water was full of whistles and beeps very similar to when you take grandma´s old tube radio and change channels. The depth of frequencies was very large and the variations of sounds seemed like to come out of a science fiction movie. This is a language !

We did swim for another long stretch in complete euphoria until my forces were completely depleted.

I never experienced another encounter like this one since. Yes, sometimes our friends whistle or make sounds. We also hear the clicking of their sonar well before they come into sight. But never again did I hear this kind of whistling and singing.

A thing to get you hooked...