Swimming with wild dolphins: Calling their friends !

Shot from minus two meters upwards

This week some nasty virus went around in Cairo and the whole family got infected. Boy, were we sick, but Charlotte and I went to the sea anyway, not wanting to miss a dolphin weekend. Chacha was already back on her feet but I still felt weak. So, although the weather was warm and the water perfect for a November day, I wore my weatsuit.

We were already out on the sea paddling around when we spotted to pod taking their usual track down the coast. The dolphin calfs poped out and into the water with the adults around. We moved slowly adjacent to their trajectory then rowing parallel. Two dolphins followed us swimming right below our kayak. Then we decided to go in.

The dolphin pod checks us out

A beautiful shot by Charlotte

Here they come again

This pictures gives a good idea about the limited visibility

When Charlotte and I entered the group split in tow, the small ones where led away into another direction and were no more to be seen. Visibility was not great, maybe 15m.
At first most of the adults were still around, they swam away very slowly towards the rest of the group and at last three dolphins remained with us. Two of them were the very same dolphins that we had been last weekend. We recognized them immediately !

While in the water my friend Lorenzo joined us, and he was hooked straight away. He is an expert scuba diver and enjoys encounters with sharks. He was amazed by how close you get to these big creatures. I think we will see him more often now....

Charlotte reads everything she can about dolphins and shares each discoveries with me. This time we had decided to really keep our hands to our body, no extended hands allowed and to swim keeping the fins locked - like dolphins. And third, to go about it very gently, calmly. Dolphins reflect your energy. When you get excited, they get hyped up, and when you are zen, they are cool too.

I tried something else on top, I dived down and then swam belly up next to the dolphins. When dolphins swim belly up it is usually an invitation to cuddle. I guess there is also a dimension of submission in this behavior, a sign of non aggression. Their reaction was quite amazing. They came around me and checked this out, looking intensely, then they started to communicate between each other. Next I saw our two friends swim together, him up her with her belly up beneath him as if to say: I´m already taken.

The couple swimming belly to belly

Then one gave out a clearly audible whistle, like at a football match, and seconds later all the other adult dolphins appeared and were all around us.
Wow ! He had called his friends !