Dolphins, please?!

[fins]

Kay,

In Curacao at the Seaquarium and Dolphin Academy

http://www.curacao-sea-aquarium.com/

They offer a dolphin dive as well as a sea lion dive.

 

[Hank49]

.

Hank, where is Gladden Spit in Belize? I just spent a week at the beginning of this summer on South Water Caye. I was also there five years ago and saw dolphins close to the island, but I was on shore. QUOTE]

Gladden Spit is about 20 miles due east of Placencia. It's about 15 or so south of Southwater Caye. In March the tour operators take divers and snorkelers out to see whale sharks. With the spawning of huge schools of snappers there is a lot of action in the water. While waiting to dive we saw a school of tuna working some small fish on the surface. So we trolled through them and hooked two. We pulled in one and a half. The one was bitten clean in half by a shark. And the tuna was bigger then my thigh. A good friend of mine has dolphins on video there so they do hang out with the whale shark action.

 

[Kay]

Hank, thanks. Sounds like a great time. Do you know what kind of shark chomped the tuna? Whale sharks eat plankton. I have to admit that the thought of swimming with things that are higher up on the food chain than me is a little scarey.

Fin, are the dolphins at that site captive? I can't do captive dolphins. It's too depressing.

Sue, where in New Jersey are you seeing all these dolphins? Are you going out on a boat or swimming from shore? That is ever so cool.

 

[Hank49]

Hank, thanks. Sounds like a great time. Do you know what kind of shark chomped the tuna? Whale sharks eat plankton. I have to admit that the thought of swimming with things that are higher up on the food chain than me is a little scarey.

Fin, are the dolphins at that site captive? I can't do captive dolphins. It's too depressing.

Sue, where in New Jersey are you seeing all these dolphins? Are you going out on a boat or swimming from shore? That is ever so cool.

Don't know what type of shark ate the tuna. I would guess a large, gray one with lots of teeth. I hear in Hawaii tiger sharks are known to follow tuna. ?? Bull shark?

 

[blawler1]

You can always do UNEXSO's Dolphin dive on Grand Bahama. It's not exactly rural, although Port Lucaya is not a large place, it is a fun place, and the dolphins aren't exactly wild, but I hear its still a blast. These are Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins (like Flipper) that are contained in a lagoon, so its not quite like Sea World, but not a chance encounter either.

The only place I have encountered dolphin in the wild was off the coast of Lanai, when a pod of spinner dolphin swam by while we were finishing a dive at the Cathedrals. The Big Island and Maui are other possibilities for seeing Spinner dolphin. They are very small, but put on a big show as they leap high out of the water in a spinning motion.

Another possibilty is the snorkel with the dolphins in Bimini. Its not a dive and dolphins aren't guaranteed, but they have a good track record of finding the local pods of Atlantic Spotted dolphins.

 

[rcohn]

Adventures with Dolphins, Sharks, & Sponge Crabs aboard the R/V Dream Too
by RCohn
Date: 2002-05-27
Location: Bahamas

The Dream Team specializes in encounters with Atlantic Spotted Dolphins on the Little Bahama Bank. Our trip featured wonderful swims playing with the friendly dolphins, together with scuba diving on the area reefs. This adventure was a unique experience and I hope this trip report will document and convey some sense of how much fun it was. Part I covers the dolphin encounters and diving. Part II covers details on the R/V Dream Too and some info on air travel.

http://dive.scubadiving.com/members/tripreports.php?s=1443
http://dive.scubadiving.com/members/tripreports.php?s=1444

Ralph

 

[Mike Veitch]

Rangiroa, French Polynesia has a resident pod of Bottlenose dolphins that regularly cruise up and play with divers.
Great fun to watch them playing in the waves of the outgoing current when you are not in the water.

Do a Google on Rangiroa for places to stay.
Expensive though...

 

[pigletfish]

I have snorkeled with pods of wild dolphins on the Big Island of Hawaii, in Kealakekua and Ho'okena Bays. I've heard that Bimini in the Bahamas is a good place for wild dolphins, and I believe the main dive shop on that island specializes in wild dolphin encounters.

If you want a captive dolphin experience, I know they exist on several of the Hawaiian islands, and also on Curacao, Roatan (Honduras), and Palau (Micronesia). And I'm sure there are more than a few others!

 

[Kay]

Thanks for the citations. I will look into those.

I don't want to do a captive dolphin thing. It depresses me.

 

[freefall2]

The boat I used to work on is no longer in business. We did scuba and snorkel trips with the wild dolphins of the White Sand Ridge in the Bahamas. It was so much fun!
This boat used to be out on the dolphin grounds with us a lot: http://www.gulfstreameagle.com/
Bill & Nowdla have a shore based operation in Bimini: http://www.biminiundersea.com/