How many have seen dolphins on their dive?

[wico6768]

French Polynesia, under water every time in Rangiroa so far, and often on the zodiac as well just outside the pass. This last time in Rangiroa on our first dive, we saw a baby nursing, they swam right over us with the entourage following a few yards back. Then the next day a couple of them swam with us for quite awhile, part of a larger group of maybe 6-8, and then one of them swam right between me and my husband, inches from us, it was awesome!

In Tikehau on the boat, spinners everywhere, but we didn't see them under water that time. On the boat between resort and village while in Huahine most trips we saw a couple of them.

While on the ferry to Catalina, there must have been at least 30-40, I have never seen so many at once, it was great. The ferry driver slowed/stopped a bit so we could all watch longer, it was right before we got to the dock. That was just a day trip with family, no diving.

I love seeing all the other creatures, but dolphins are my favorite especially when they choose to interact with us.

 

[OlafB]

seen many in the red sea. the friendly and the less friendly version.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Lots of spinner dolphins off Hilo at certain times of the year, including babies. You can see them on the surface a few hundred yards out as you gear up for a shore dive. However, they seem to stay just far enough offshore that they do not interact with divers...

Paddling outrigger canoes and surfski's I've had them come so close they splashed me as they jumped and played.... but on scuba I've only seen dolphins underwater twice, many years ago, and only for a few moments before they got bored and swam on :depressed:

Best wishes.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I've seen them many times. Once when solo scuba spearfishing in the Gulf of Mexico, I saw a big gray one shoot by me a few times at around 50 feet away at the limit of visibility. Depth was around 120 or so.

A few minutes later I find a nice grouper sitting in a somewhat exposed area. The dolphin comes in and just hangs about 5-8 ft past the grouper. So we are all somewhat in a straight line over open bottom adjacent to a ledge. with the gropuer position between me and the dolphin.

The grouper is nervous because he is aware of both of us and just stays there. I immediately decide that if that was a big shark, I would NEVER take this shot right in front of his nose, but I figured.. what the hell.. let's see what happens. The grouper is closer to the dolphin than me and he can definitely swim faster than me anyway,

I take the shot and nothing happens.. I pretty much killed the fish with the shot and I hesitated and looked up at the dolphin and it was very clear that he was intensly watching me and the fish, but he just stayed there motionless and I went over and grabbed the grouper and the dolphin slowly swam away.

Long story about nothin.. but I thought it was cool. We have had MANY fish stolen by them when hook and line fishing.

 

[Hickdive]

Lochcarron, on the west coast of Scotland, had a resident pair and a couple of years ago I travelled there to dive with them.

I wasn't disappointed; within a few minutes of entering the water we could here them clicking away and then we could see them. They did about twenty minutes of underwater acrobatic displays for us, coming to within a couple of metres before zooming off again.

 

[RJmimi]

Encountered a very friendly pod of Dolphins while diving off St George's Caye, Belize. They hung out with us for 20+ mins and were fascinated by my camera, so some good "portraits" came of it.

 

[bmorescuba]

St. Croix Pod

My best encounter was during a trip to St. Croix. We were swimming slowly back towards the mooring at about 30ft., winding down a lovely dive, just puttering around. I look over my shoulder and there is an entire pod of dolphins tailing our small group. I alert everyone with vivid excitement. They checked us out for a minute or two and then swam off. We were elated. We get back to the mooring and do our safety stop and, lo and behold, they come back! They did swim-bys, checking us out, swimming very close, for at least 15 minutes. Our safety stop turned into 20 minutes. Even the boat crew grabbed some snorkels and came down to join us. It is one of my most cherished dive memories.



Link to video: St. Croix Dolphins - YouTube

If only my photo skills had been better back then, but at least I captured it. You can hear them on the video, too.

 

[Villain]

Just once. In Sydney Australia and I had the go-pro rolling.
Check out the short video:

Dolphins at North Avalon on Vimeo

 

[Damselfish]

a bunch of times from boats, only a couple times UW. This guy came in close to check us out right after we splashed, a bit out of focus as my husband didn't quite have his camera ready. (Gladden Spit Belize)

 

[Vindobona]

I saw a few dolphins passing by on my 2nd dive after my OWD certification. I'm really lucky! This was on the Maldives.