being interesting is hard work

I got a chance today to swim with dolphins. The first time I went, a few weeks ago, it took 2 hours to find some and it was a bit rainy and the seas were too rough to swim. This time, we lucked out and within 8 minutes found a friendly pod with no juveniles in it (there are regulations that you can't swim if there are young dolphins in the pod - for your safety as well as for the dolphins).

It was amazing and hard to put into words. The dolphins swam around and underneath and looked right at me as they went by. Bottlenose dolphins are quite large, 300 kg and 2-3 metres in length. Dolphins like to be entertained or eventually they swim off. To be 'interesting' to a dolphin means making highpitched noises and whistles and waving at them from the boat. In the water, it means making high pitched noises in your snorkel and being active - diving down, doing somersaults, moving a lot. The sea was a bit rough and you can only be 'interesting' for so long before you get completely tired out. When the dolphins move away from the swimmers, the boat picks you up and moves you closer to the pod and in you go again. We did that three times.

No pictures today, bringing the camera in the water was too difficult. A kind lady who didn't go in swimming took some pictures for me, but it was with the disposable, waterproof camera, not the digital so I won't see them until I finish the roll and get it developed. I suspect there won't be much to look at - just a bunch of unidentifiable heads in a big mass of water.