Saturday, June 4, 2011

Out in the open

A quick glimpse during the afternoon session
It´s ten in the morning. Yesterday´s big pod passes. We move out, but the wind has stirred up these curly short waves that are as long as the kayak. It is impossible to pick up speed. But the dolphins are fast today. I give up....

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2 p.m.

It took some effort to convince Patrice to go out on a little tour, but I succeeded.

Patrice and I have been through some adventure last year when he decided to save my life.
It was one of these windy days and I had gone out to swim with the group, it was getting dark. Seeing an abandoned kayak he got intrigued and instantly convinced my friend Lorenzo to join him to safe me.
They grabbed our transparent kayak, the one that is sinkable if it takes water. It has two floaters but one of them was deflated.  So they took this kayak with all the fins and goggles etc inside and paddled out. Some waves flushed the boat and when I stuck my head out of the water they were already sinking. I came just in time to save them - and the kayak.

We were just rowing, without any set objective, no destination, aimlessly, when a group of dolphins appear. They must have be 50m from us. I turn the kayak so we are moving with the dolphins.
In the meantime the dolphins have disappeared. I know with the paddle against the kayak: tonk tonk tonk
And we start rowing.
A little later the group appears right below us. This is a group of big males, and they are hunting We move along together. Here are five big adults.
A little later I'm in the water and inside the group. Beautiful ! After a while they dive down into the deep blue, where I can't follow. There is a dimension down there that remains beyond my reach. I wished I could follow them...



Back in the kayak we wait, wonder where the dolphins will reappear, so Patrice can have a go. After a looong while they reappear a hundred meters away. Too far to catch up with them. Well, more next time, time for food...

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4 p.m.
This mornings pod returns up north. This time we meet up. They are going so fast, I can hardly follow them. They are all aligned, all twenty, raking up the fish. It is an amazing hunting technic. Imagine a moving fishing net, well, like a trawler.
When I go in I encounter them shortly, take two shots, and off they go (see the picture on top).

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Cool day !


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

why not:)