Swimming with Dolphins

On Friday joined a tour boat run by The Dolphin Experience for our dolphin swimming adventure in Akarora. We got there about a half-hour before we were to set out, and the staff got us outfitted with wetsuits, flippers, masks, and snorkels. The wet suits were heavy-duty sorts with two separate pieces: one sleeveless body suit that was like overalls, and a second heavy jacket that fit over the top. The weather was bright and clear, but there were high winds across the bay so the water was choppy with lots of spray. The folks at The Dolphin Experience told us it might be a bit rough out there and gave us a chance to back out, but we decided to go for it anyway and just hoped that neither of us would get too motion sick on the choppy water.

We set out right at 9 am and headed far out into the bay where the dolphins tend to spend their time. The wind kicked lots of spray up and over onto us as we were cruising out, so my glasses quickly got coated with salt and our exposed skin got icy. We were looking for Hector's Dolphins, the smallest and most rare dolphin in the world, which are just 1-1.5 meters long. They also are an endangered species so we had strict orders to only let them approach us and to never, ever touch them as their skin is delicate and could be hurt with a simple push or scrape.

After about 20 minutes we saw our first group, but they didn't stick around the boat, so we moved on. Ten minutes later we came across a large group of 12-15 dolphins that came right up to the boat and started swimming around us and playing in our wake--our crew said that was a good sign they were interested and might want to play. We donned our masks and jumped into the water, at which point I started to hyperventelate a bit. The water was a balmy 14 degrees Celsius (about 57 degrees Fahrenheit), so until the water heated up in our wetsuits it was, well, freezing.

Our crew told us that the dolphins like it when you make interesting noises, and would love it if we sung into our snorkels. After a few attempts, I managed to keep my face and mask down in the cold water, and started humming unintelligible rock songs using my snorkel like a long kazoo. The water was murky, with just 2 meters visibility, so it was surprising when the first dolphin shot by me, quickly followed by a second. After a few minutes I got a big gulp of salt water down my snorkel as a wave went over me, so I went back to the boat to recover.

I took six or seven swims total, each a few minutes long. The last two swims were definitely the best. The crew had a clicker that we could use to attract the dolphins, and I was one of the last to try it out. After I used it for a minute or so, I had at least six dolphins circling around me, and at one point I could actually hear them clicking and squeaking a bit. In my last swim I was the only one in the water, and I had all the dolphins come over to check me out, swimming by in twos and threes. At one point a dolphin swam right in front of me slowly so I could keep pace with it, until I saw it make a quick move with its tail and it disappeared from in front of me. My favorite moment was when one swam right under me no more than 18 inches from my face--if it had been allowed I could have easily stuck my hand out and stroked down its side as it swam by. I could see all the marks and scratches on its skin, its blowhole, and even how it had a ridge of black along the back of its tail fin.

We headed back, cold and wet, and took hot showers to rinse off at the company's office (rarely has a shower felt quite so good). It turns out we were very lucky, too. Other boats had gone out about the same time we did and had to come back because they found no dolphins to look at. It was definitely a highlight of the trip.