Dolphins moving up north

This video looks like the Super8 films my father did in the 70th. But this was actually filmed yesterday. I guess my lense was smudgy. It still gives a nice idea of how relaxed these creates travel.

Dolphin and their daily itinerary

Charlotte takes a dip

Dolphins have their habits too. Just as we wake up in the morning, have a pee, take breakfast and brush our teeths, dolphins travel the same itinerary at the approximate same hour every day. For a spectator standing in our bay this means the pod usually appears either at around 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. from the north moving south (+ or - 1 h).

We have been trying to figure out what stretch of coast they cover. We know for a fact that the group has not been observed at hotels up north or further south. Either people did not watch carefully or the dolphins really aren´t there. 

We have observed the pod turn into the open or arrive from the open waters repeatedly. Adults dolphins, often groups of strong males, hunt far away from the coast. The female dolphins with their calves prefer to stay close to the coast where it is safer. Sharks, one of the rare enemies of dolphins, need deeper water. There is also less risk of getting caught up in the fishing net of a trawler.

In irregular intervals this habit changes. 

One of these occasions is the yearly dolphins gathering. Other dolphin pods meet up with our local group. At one point last year there must have been 60 or 70 dolphins in our bay. It is the mating occasion. Several male dolphins fight over single females, and really pester them. They jump, race and show off. They join together to create mega pods.

At these occasions they also hunt together, creating circles or cylinders of dozens of dolphins that trap swarms of fish. We observed on circle with a diameter of ca 50m just off our bay. You could see one dolphin after another dive down to take his share.

When different pods meet they usually move together and leave their own territory for a day or more.

After the big dolphin encounter last year our pods weren´t seen for a week.

Yesterday´s visit of external dolphins broke the habit of our local pod again. They had moved way down the coast. So instead of arriving from the north as usual, today at around 11 a.m. our pod came from the south. It was one group of approximately 12 dolphins. The direction of the wind had changed so this time it pushed us with the pod up north. Charlotte and I had a hard time rowing back.

The same pod returned at around 2 p.m. to move south. They must have hit their turning point up the next bay. Looking at the map the dolphins cover a stretch of coast that does not extend 30 km.

Against the wind...

Here we go again, the revolution is pretty much over, the security situation is safe enough for our institutions to allow us back. We find a changed Egypt, full of hope and new ideals, a new found equality for the poorer citizens and a lot more chaos on the roads as the police has been badly smashed.

It´s our first weekend by the sea again. It´s a windy day with a dusty sky. I´m alone on the beach behind my wind shelter, not one soul on this kilometer of white beach. Its comfortably warm in my wetsuit and a jacket. And there they come. I hop onto the kayak and follow them. There are two groups. I row, strong backwind helps me, pushes me, I make hardly any effort. We move down the coast, the pods get used to me and swim alongside my kayak. They swim right below me, tilting to their side to have a better peek of who is above. And then I see a third pod coming right behind.

And further it goes, far down the coast, to areas I have never been to before. The wind pushes me and I move with very little effort. Too bad I did not bring my mask nor my fins so there are no pictures of this trip.

After 5km I hold out,  I still have to row back. So it´s Farewell, dolphins. I turn around and start paddling. Three dolphins leave the pods and swim back towards me. And continue, and there they join up with a fourth group. Amazing, there are more than 40 dolphins here today...

I row and row, the waves move quickly forward below the kayak, my face against the wind. And I row and row, against the wind. And then I look at the pier on my left. And it is still there. I haven´t moved at all !

Maybe it wasn´t such a great  idea to come all this way after all.  I´m far away, no telephone, no money. At least the wind doesn´t blow me out into the sea, just down the coast.

Well, no time to whine, on my knees and now it is paddling like Pocahontas. Against the waves and the wind, with Bob Seeger´s song in my head... With quick and strong strokes and clenched teeth.

Against the wind,

I´m still rowing against the wind

So much older now but still rowing

Against the wind

Hours later I arrive at the beach. Extremely exhausted but happy.

Here is the song

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.

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A second encounter: The dolphins on their way home

Curious bottlenose dolphin

16h, the sun has set and it is getting chilly. Time to pack up, but hey, we could warm up a little by doing some intensive paddling. And out we go and warm up scanning the horizon.

And there, really far away, I don´t see anything, but I am told by Charlotte, returns the group. They jump and play, even the baby tries to jump. 

They come straight towards us. We move with them for awhile and then decide to go in, overcoming the initial resistance to the cold water. We are actually quite far outside and the water is deep blue. Charlotte is troubled by the shark attack stories of Sharm and hesitates. After all, who knows what´s watching us from below...

But then she goes anyway.

The group gives us a warm welcome. One by one comes and greets us and does a few circles. 

Dolphin meets human

More curious dolphins

Once the calfes had been lead away the adults were at ease and playful

Getting very close - they look like sharks here

From outside the water seemed to be obscure and threateningly dark, but once inside the visibility seemed perfect. The water had a great deep blue and the dolphins stood out in neat silver. It is too bad the photo diving mask can´t handle poor light conditions. All of these great shots turned out blurry. I have attached them anyway, I find they give a good impression of the excitement and thrill we felt.

Very blurry but it shows the dynamic under water

This second encounter today lasted a good 40 minutes and was composed of three dips and moving down 1 km of coast.

Evening swim with the pod

Charlotte swimming with the pod

I got a message from youtube explaining that the music that is underlying this video is copyrighted and therefore this film does not show in Germany. Why don´t they just turn off the sound ?

New edition to the dolphin pod !

A new born dolphin calf

It´s the 17th of december, there is a steady slight breeze blowing and the water has gotten quite refreshing. Forget about staying on the beach without a sweater or a wetsuit, it is just too cold. All our noses are running and we sneeze from time to time... but we still hold out !
And here they come...

At around 13h the pod heads down south. We move out on the kayak and when they approach I dip in. Yihaa, a wetsuit does not protect you at first. Icy water gets into the suit then slowly the water gets heated by your body and it only protects you then.

And now comes the pod... there is a tiny new dolphin in the group. This baby is not more than a meter long and incredibly sweet ! He comes up to breathe quite often, literally popping out of the water. Wow, welcome to the world !

Another calf sheltered by his mother

As it is usually the case when you meet the dolphin calves the group stayed tightly together. They passed by without a lot of interaction. It is amazing how tightly the mothers guard their small ones. They really keep them between their two fins. Look at this picture above. The small ones are incredibly curious but the mothers impose a tough discipline.

The return

After 5 weeks away the bottlenose dolphin pod returned to our bay today at 14h.
The dolphins are back !

Where did the dolphins go ?

Three weeks since that memorable last Eid holiday - a week of massive jet ski fun - the dolphins have not been seen. They have left our bay.

The sea is empty now and doesn´t make sense.

Irresponsible kids on jetskis

Dolphin calf swimming well protected beneath his mother !

Well, what can I say ? This promised to be the perfect day to meet up with the pod- flat sea, blue sky, pretty warm still for a fall day. Alberto and I went out there with our kayak, slowly getting ready for them to meet up with us. They were still 50 m away when suddenly this 12 year old on a 250 hp jetski came shooting at high speed right into the pod.

There are fortunately a lot of responsible jet ski owners out there that respect their neighbors and use their toy at a safe distance from he coast. These people are then penalized by the behaviour of a few idiots. These uneducated elements put the safety of everybody else at risk, pollute the beach with noise and exhaust fumes and generate a lot of bad vibes. When you complain to these kids (and their parents) they don´t understand what the heck you are talking about. When mentioning dolphins they look at you puzzled saying that dolphins enjoy jetskis. And aren´t they just "fish" anyway ?

Dolphins that come up to breathe are vulnerable. When they move with their calfs they are on top extremely protective. The picture above shows how the calf always stays well protected under his mother. The fast moving jetskies create extreme stress for the group. Their reaction is to dive deep down, travel at the very bottom of the seafloor, change radically directions, usually for the open, and try to come up as little as possible.  They disappear and pop up hundreds of meters further away. When they finally come up the jetski rush in again leaving dolphins no time to grasp air. They usually stay away from the stress area for a couple of days.

Unforunately, after passing successfully the first jetski two more appeared full speed. I just witnessed the group try to pass the area swiftly. As soon as the worst stretch seemed to have been overcome yet another jetski and a big motor boat took aim and rushed right into the pod.

The dolphins dipped down, changed their intended trajectory and were not seen again.

Help !

Returning home

The sun set and look who swims back up the coast ...

How intelligent are dolphins ?

Low visibility today, the water is getting cooler

This year the Eid El Fitr holiday fell on the week between 13-20 November. It is the only time of the year when everybody that owns a secondary home by the Red Sea will use his home. The sea is full of jet skis that are driven by 10 year olds. Sitting by the beach is somehow like sitting by Cairo´s ringroad and watching the traffic.

Durning the feast Egyptians eat a lot of meat and then sleep long into the day. The beach fills up late, at around 2 p.m.
With all the noise and chaos of the boats and jet skis the dolphins were nowhere to be seen for the past couple of days. Finally today, before all the havoc started they passed.
It is the same pod as always. Lots of females with their calfs. They are wonderful to watch.

We went in and met the whole crowd. Swiftly the calfs were lead away and - surprise - the same two dolphins from last week and the week before stayed around. We recognized each other immediately. The male individual, a sturdy big dolphin with a thick neck, has a cleft in his lower jaw which creates a white reflection. He is always accompanied by a female (See last weeks entries). There was a real welcome !

By strictly keeping the hands by the waist and swimming with parallel fins the dolphins are much more at ease. I guess this is an essential rule when swimming with these creatures: Try to swim like them !

I turned around and swam belly up and then one of the dolphins flipped and swam belly up as well.

Now intelligence is often defined as the mental ability to learn and apply knowledge and the ability to reason. These bottlenose dolphins clearly recognize us, the perceive clearly our behaviour to then interact in a very playful manner.

There is one dolphin in our bay that seemed to have a plastic bag permanently stuck to his dorsal fin. Every now and then we could witness him, over long periods, dragging along this awful piece of garbage. Then one day, inside the water I was stunned to see that the bag had shifted from the dorsal fin to his tail.

Dolphin´s tail fin starring a plastic bag 

A few minutes later the bag had found his way back to the dorsal fin ! The dolphin was playing !
He was juggling the bag from one fin to the other. Now I have not read about this behaviour anywhere yet.

Another sign of intelligence is the ability to evaluate and judge.

A while back I was happily swimming down the coast with four big dolphins. When the calfs are not around dolphins get much more playful. And these four individuals would wait for me to catch up, as I was obviously much slower then their slowest speed, and we would continue our trip. Then we met up with this guy who was harpoon fishing. Now harpoon fishing is strictly forbidden all over the red sea. He had already caught 3 fish and had attached them to his belt. The dolphins on seeing him got frantic, swam a few zigzags and then dashed off.
What surprised me was the fact that they had made a clear distinction between me, a peaceful human and this harpoon wielding human. They had evaluated this guy and had judged him a threat.

Witnessing their their hunting technique, swimming in huge circles and trapping swarms of fish and letting one individual after another feed, is very clever and shows a high level of social organisation.

In direct interaction with these incredible creatures we learn a little more each time of how to communicate with each other. Meeting dolphins is meeting intelligent life.

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 !

The white mark on the lower jaw - this is last weeks couple !

Friendly and curious

Taking pictures with her liquid mask 

Dolphins all over

This encounter had lasted for approximately 25min. As often it stopped when an intrusion took place, this time by a motor boat.

Charlotte´s dolphin film

Two dolphins

Dolphin frenzy

October 30th was a cold and windy day in Red Sea terms. Clouds covered the sun and the sea turned dark and unfriendly. Temperatures dropped and staying on the beach was less enjoyable.

We saw the dolphins pass at noon, far out in the open, following a fishing trawler. They seemed to be too far out to catch up with them so we let them pass and felt pangs of disillusionment. Charlotte left and returned shortly with her wetsuit. I got mine too.

Two hours later they pod could be seen again, far away. Actually I didn´t see anything at all but I believed Charlotte. We jumped into the Kayak, taking Leonard along, and out we rowed. We eventually caught up with the pod and they swam towards us, followed us swimming alongside right underneath our boat. Now and then a dolphin popped up right next to the boat to catch his breath. Once a dolphin baby jumped up out of the water, maybe a meter twenty long. He looked incredibly sweet!

After moving together for 200m I went in. Charlotte followed shortly hanging on to the Kayak so Leo would not drift away and another dolphin frenzy began. Two Young adults stayed with us to play for approximately half an hour. During the whole encounter they we heard their high frequency whistle, a sign that they were well at ease.

The two were really curious and came swimming towards us, an arms length away, then making a sharp turn to immediately turn back. We would follow them swim in circles and they would increase the speed more and more until we would get dizzy. Then We would fin one of the dolphins swim belly up right beneath, an invitation to touch - but always just centimeters too far away.

Unfortunately the light conditions were poor so most of my pictures are blurred. Fortunately Charlotte filmed a lot and the films came out really well. They give a good impression of what it feels like when you swim with wild dolphins.

The weight belt gives you neutral buoyancy and allows you stay down longer

Turning to swim belly up 

Swimming together in circles, faster and ever faster

"There they come...!"

Charlotte and the two dolphins

Hello there !

People had been watching us from the coast and eventually two kayaks with a dutch couple arrived. The dolphins did not feel at ease anymore and left shortly to join the rest of the pod who was making a big circle hunting fish.

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...