Thursday

Amazing shot ! Curious bottlenose individual

It's 10 a.m.
The blue spotted ray

Mohammed, the guard, calls and points to the water: "Abu Salame, Mister Daniel !"
I jump up and see something right above the corals just in front of me just meters from the us. Leo and I get on the kayak. "It's not a dolphin" shouts Aldo "it's a sea turtle!"
But it isnt that either. In the meantime Leo and I are right next to him. It's a beautiful spotted eagle ray. With about 120cm wingspan, it looks like a bat and flies like a bird. Its not scared by us, circles the bay a few times then flies away...
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12:45
The Chinese Whites again

Here they come.
To my surprise yesterdays chinese whites are here again, the very same group, accompanied (or should I say escorted ?) by two bottlenose dolphins. I cannot say they swam together, but more in a safe distance, eyeing each other. I wonder what their relationship is like. Do bottlenose dolphins tolerate other dolphin types in their territory? Do they engage with each other or do they treat the other like humanoids dealt with homo neanderthalis?

They are more flexible...

...very curious and playful...

...and not afraid of the reef.

Chinese Whites are nice to be around with

Chinese whites are different from bottlenose dolphins in several ways. When they breathe they swim in a stronger arc than the latter. They seem to be more mobile, swimming in tighter circles, but are maybe not as fast. They are less prudent with coral reefs, swimming in and over them. They are more curious and playful. They move up the coast slowly, in no hurry to go anywhere.

When close I knock against the kayak hull... And here they come. I'm with the chinese whites, then with the two bottlenose, and then again with the firrst group. There are at least 6 of them. Coming and going...
The sessions lasts a good 20 min.
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2:45
Of dolphins and sharks

Valentina joins me this time. We are quickly out there and see... these are bottlenose dolphins.
They move up from the south. There are quite a few. It looks like there are about 20 individuals.
We move along with them and they are right with us, all the time.
Valentina goes in first. The dolphins circle around her and are in no haste to move on. It is always amazing how dolphins behave towards children.

Vali inside the action

Then I go in. It´s a group I know, and they know me. We connect immediately and swim together. There is one dolphin that picks me out. We swim together for 10 minutes or so, really close, my fingers are just centimeters away and I feel a strong urge to touch him. But I don´t.

Then its Valentina´s turn again. She is in heaven, and I´m so happy she has a chance to experience this and savor it.

The dolphins were very interactive, relaxed and curious today

Visibility was good too

View from below

He asked for a cuddle

This one gave us a spectacular 2 m jump later that day

Hello there....

Then it´s my turn again. When one goes in the other follows close by, so one does not have to swim back to any drifting far-away kayak and loose precious time. This way one stays right behind the pod and can follow him all day.
It´s great in the water, I´m right inside the group when a zordiac motor boat enters the scene. The engine and clicking of the transmission frightens the pod and they dash away. I´m left alone in a world of bubbles from the  motor boat engine.

 Jetski´s and motor boats are enemy number one of dolphins. One has to be aware of this !!

Valentina goes back in, then me, then her... this goes on for an hour and a half.
Until we are way off from where we started.

I´m stunned to see inside the group, which seems to have gotten bigger, the chinese whites ! They seem to be integrated in the bottlenose group ! They really seem to be a part of them...
I wonder if they interbreed ?!

So we are far away by now. My arms feel like lead and I´m cooked. The dolphins seem to be far away...
This has been as good as a dolphin swim can ever get !

We have a dip at a beautiful coral reef spot when I see the dolphins turn back.
We climb back onto the kayak when I see the dolphins swim straight at us. Something whirls up the water 15m away. I´m just about to go in, have a final peek and realize, this thing in the water are not dolphins. They are further away. What we have here are sharks !

They must have been moved out of their usual habitat by the dolphins...

One of the six sharks

A group of 6 sharks, close together like a dolphin pod is right below our kayak, and they circle around us a few times. I´m amazed, take some pictures, while Valentina gets very scared. "Don´t be" I say to her, but that is not the right thing to say in these circumstances and she is now also angry with me.

I feel helpless, row her back to the beach and she walks back home alone.

Too bad this amazing session, which lasted more than an hour and a half, has to end in tears.
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6:00 p.m.
Spectacular 2m jumps

While I row back there are many more dolphins around.
Back on the beach Leo greets me. The sea is now full of dolphins. "Shall we have a go?" I asked him and he nods. With his broken arm he may not fall off the kayak. Good that he is careful.

Here we go. Soon we follow the pod.
One of the dolphins, the one I swam with before, shows off big time and makes a neat 2m jump right next to our kayak. He turns his head and looks at us while he does it. He splashes down and the water nearly reaches Leo. Wow, that was cool !

There is one pod after another that arrives. The mixed one, the pod with the dolphin with the pointed belly, then the pod with the finless dolphin and so on. I count 6 pods but I have the suspicion there were even more.  We paddle with them for another hour. It seems the dolphins wait for me to go in as they stay very close with us. But I can´t with Leo with a broken arm on board.

While returning we see yet another dolphin pod. But we have had enough for today.