Accepted by pod

...and another weekend by the sea. It´s a sunny day, hardly any wind, a perfect beach day.
We arrive early and hang out on the beach, on the kayak, by the cliffs, waiting for the dolphins.

Now my wife thinks I´m obsessed. This is of course complete nonsense. Whatever makes her think that ?

Friends arrive, lunchtime comes, still no dolphins. Then its time to have to eat, we walk back to our house where our housemaid has prepared a buffet. I have this gut feeling the dolphins are on their way, and I will loop them. We all settle down, an old bottle of wine is opened, the dishes are served, I take a first sip of my wine and load my plate, just sitting down and moving the first fork towards my mouth when the phone rings. It is our friend Philippe who informs us that the dolphins are passing by.

Well what can I do ? Of course, I drop everything and run.
5 seconds flat to get to the beach, into the Kayak, row and row and finally I catch up with the pod.

The last shot before the batteries went dead

The pod swims slowly today. There are many dolphins, maybe 20. Here are the females with their calves and there are the males. We travel together down the coast for a kilometer or so, me in the boat, them below. They are all around the kayak, looking up, not at all disturbed.

I dive in. The water is still cold.
Down below is only the deep blue. The dolphins come and greet, swim around. The dolphin with the cut in the jaw is there, then there is another one with the tail fin cut, and many others. Its quite a sight, dolphins on three levels and infront, up, down, and behind. Lots and lots, all over.

I start to take pictures but... shoot... the batteries go dead.

While the females and calves swim on I get adopted into the male group. We swim together, they swim slowly, down the coast. There is this acoustic vibration in the water, a sound similar to the humming of a high-voltage line. I swim belly up they come very close, then circle around, they follow, we swim on. They have accepted me into their group.

After half a kilometer my forces fade and I get first cramps. The kayak is abandoned very far behind. It is time to turn around. I hold out. The group realizes I stay behind, turns around, come back to invite me to join again. But it´s ime to say goodbye. I start swimming back. After a short time for dolphins show up again, wondering. Then, I´m half way towards the kayak, two big males show up once again and invite me back.

Wonderful ! I wished I could travel with them !

Then I´m back on the kayak and it´s a long way back to our beach. I run back to the house. Our friends have finished their lunch. My glass is empty and my plate is gone.

Empty beaches, spotless sea - but cold

Bottlenose dolphin mom with his calf

We are in the middle of winter, a cloudy day, some rain. Even here at Red Sea it can get cold. The good thing about it is that there is no soul on the beach, and no motor boats or jetskis. It´s nice and peaceful out there on the kayak.

And here comes the dolphin pod. It´s about 12h. We follow each other down the coast for about two kilometers. They swim right next to the kayak and don´t seem to be disturbed. I watch them hunt. You can make out where they are by all these swarms of small fish jumping out of the water in panic.

Eventually, warmed up from all that rowing, I dip in. Yihaa, the water is vitalizing....
We stare at each other. I take some shots, then the group moves on and vanishes in the dark blue.

Happy Dolphins

Friday, 11h30 - the entire dolphin pod moves south.
Saturday 13h30 - dolphins move south. Only the dorsal fins of two dolphins were visible through the angry mist of today´s sea. Staying on the beach today was like staying in a wind tunnel. The icy wind made the water feel warm. Not a day to go for a swim.