swimming with dolphins in "The Big Blue"

[The111]

I finally got around to watching The Big Blue. It was pretty bad, but worth a few laughs. Anyway, the cheesy scenes where Jacques went swimming with the dolphins got me thinking.

Everybody loves dolphins and wants to swim with them. Places like Discovery Cove charge a premium for people to swim with captive dolphins in artificial waterscapes.

I can remember clearly surfing New Smyrna Beach (Florida) inlet as a teenager, and during certain months of the winter, there would be many dolphins in the surf swimming around me, surfing, practically playing with me sometimes. I never touched any but they would often jump very close to me and dive under my feet.

Is it really possible for a human to find a place where many dolphins hang out, and go swim with them and develop a relationship with them? Have any of you done this? Or even better, do this regularly? I've been getting more and more obsessed with the thought lately, and as cheesy as the movie was, I almost feel like if this was possible, I'd turn into Jacques and spend all night swimming with the beautiful creatures (maybe I wouldn't go so far as to leave a beautiful woman in bed though...) rofl It sounds more fun than freediving to me...

 

[efattah]

We've had that happen with harbor seals, in particular one harbor seal we named Shylo. She lived at Ansell point for about 2 years, and she would always come and play with the divers. It was super fun.

On one dive, I started sinking at 15m. Shylo, being a seal, won't start sinking until 80m. But, she's so smart, she realized she could conserve energy by grabbing my monofin. So she grabbed it and sank with me, sparing her the energy of kicking.

 

[Johan]

there is suposed to be one in Norway..Sebastian Naslund writes about it on his homepage..http://www.fridykning.se/arkiv/flipper.html it's just one, not a pod...but anyway..

johan

 

[smellsfishy]

I saw a documentary years ago with a marine biologist who did just that. He would swim with a wild dolphin daily and play games, blow bubble rings etc. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the movie.

smellsfishy

 

[Bill]

Thanks for the story Eric. Most of my life, I have shared a home with pets, but some of the best memories are moments with free animals. Once, in a sailplane, a red tailed hawk showed me how to work a thermal for about five minutes and I've enjoyed some amazing dives with a harbour seal at Anacapa Island in CA. Hand feeding hummingbirds at sun down was a favorite hobby for decades.
The bay where we have training ropes is home to four kinds of dolphins, who often check us out. Sometimes they seem to be teasing the snorkelers.
Aloha
Bill

 

[aquatic ape]

I too have swam and surfed close to dolphins and it is a cool experience. But I must stand up for Discovery Cove. While on business in Orlando a few years ago, my wife decided to forgo Disney Land and the other parks and just go to Discovery Cove. I grew up in the ocean, so I did not have high expectations for DC (Discovery Cove). My wife on the other hand, had not been raised in the water, so I thought it would be a good place to start. First of all DC was like being in the move Jurassic Park or Westworld waiting to happen. I kept thinking that it was a matter of time before they got sued out of business due to a mad dolphin or something. There were sharks and huge barracuda separated by glass, as well as swimming with live dolphins. Either one of these situations, would make for a good movie. At one point in the dolphin encounter you get to touch and hold the dolphin. The dolphin that we were with was CJ a mixed bottle nosed and common dolphin. First of all he felt like a wet eggplant, they are not slimy like a fish and they are supper smooth. The most amazing part of the experience was when the trainer suggested that I slightly lift up on CJ’s under side to get a fell of how heavy he was. When I did this, in about 3 or 4 feet of water, I reached under his fins and belly. When my hand reached the other side of his fin I could feel his heart beat and it was identical to that of a human. It was incredible to look down into those intelligent eyes and feel a heart beat that was like my own. They are more like us (but beter) than any animal that I have seen. You could tell the dolphins dug being with the people, they seemed very happy. My wife and I live in Hawaii now and she is getting very accustomed to the ocean, DC was a good place to get her hooked on the ocean. She loved feeding the sting rays. We were just in Kona snorkling with Manta rays and that too was super cool. I suggest DC to anyone with very small kids or those who have friends or family that are a little scared of the ocean.
BTW I have also spent a lot of time in New Smyrna Beach, great place but the last hurricane hurt the beach. Great place for a main land vacation and don’t forget to get some Guinness and Oyster stew at the Pub on Canal street.

 

[pat fish]

In the Red Sea it is pretty common that dolphins join snorklers every once in while. When I was working in Southern Egypt we knew some spots where we could spot dolphins on a regular basis. There are also some famous places with huge schools of dolphins like "sataya"- dolphin house where live-aboards use to go.
The fascinating thing about swimming with wild dophins is that they strongly dislike it when you swim in their direction. I have seen this many times: Snorklers are amazed by the view of the dolphins underwater and instinctively swim towards them. After about one or two minutes the dolphins get tired of keeping the distance and away they are...

 

[The111]

The fascinating thing about swimming with wild dophins is that they strongly dislike it when you swim in their direction. I have seen this many times: Snorklers are amazed by the view of the dolphins underwater and instinctively swim towards them. After about one or two minutes the dolphins get tired of keeping the distance and away they are...

So all the touching and "dolphin riding" that goes on in movies like the Big Blue is just fantasy? I guess only captive dolphins act like domesticated animals...

 

[donmoore]

We encounter dolphins a few times a year. Here is a little story I wrote a few years ago on db. http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=37692&highlight=dolphins

I was able to touch one once when I was in the water and few times hanging out over the bow of the boat while underway. Seems like they are multiplying in numbers in the Gulf of Mexico. Probably because they are protected.
don

 

[John A]

About 15 years ago (before marriage when I could vacation where I wanted) my buddy and I were diving off Marathon, FL. The boat was anchored in about 90’ of water on a glassy calm day, 5 or 6 miles off shore. We had finished diving and were just sitting on the boat when we spied a pod of dolphins not far from the boat, we had a small zodiac with us so we jumped in with mask/fins/snorkel and went after them. We would not go near the pod with the zodiac but take the “diver” in a wide arc up steam of their general direction, drop in and wait. I did a couple of drops with no luck and than on the next one the pod came near me. I swam like crazy to keep up with no luck at all, just when the pod was just about out of visual range, I went to the surface totally out of breath, hit the surface and unthinking loudly cleared my snorkel. As soon as I made that noise the pod stops and one of the dolphins turns and checks me out. Than another one swims directly under me, with that a third one with a baby swims past. After that, just as the last one was leaving and disappearing in the haze, one more swoops past me right underneath. Whole thing might have lasted 2 minutes if that, but what an experience. Something about clearing my snorkel made them take notice, probably just laughing at me.

Only other close encounter was on a trimix dive off Ft Lauderdale on a wreck in 260’. I am just off the deck when two very large dolphin swim through the kingposts of the wreck about 40’ from me.
John

 

[megathumpzila]

I did it several times on the west side of Oahu. They were showing up every day. You swim out, then ignore them and just go up and down slowly like you are spearfishing, but never looking directly at them, Usually the whole pod will come over and check you out, other times they will not be in the mood.
I never tried to touch them, but they were close enough regularly. I'd rather grab a turtle anyway. The pod itself is slightly intimidating, you wouldn't want it to think you were a predator.

I think someone got bit by a shark out there last year, so there are some dangers involved.

 

[matrixed82]

In the Ocean Men movie (the DVD) Umberto or Pipin swim with dolphins, I'm not sure if they are wild though. Does anyone know?

 

[pat fish]

In the Ocean Men movie (the DVD) Umberto or Pipin swim with dolphins, I'm not sure if they are wild though. Does anyone know?

Pipin was working with "domesticated" dolphins...
Jacques in the real life as well.

So all the touching and "dolphin riding" that goes on in movies like the Big Blue is just fantasy? I guess only captive dolphins act like domesticated animals...

usually yes - but there are wild dolphins who are very accustomed to swimmers (in France, Norway, Red Sea, and so on).

I swam like crazy to keep up with no luck at all, just when the pod was just about out of visual range, I went to the surface totally out of breath, hit the surface and unthinking loudly cleared my snorkel. As soon as I made that noise the pod stops and one of the dolphins turns and checks me out.

I have seen this many times in the Red Sea. People swim behind dolphins until they are very exhausted and then give up following the animals. Sometimes the dolphins decide to stay, then sometimes they are annoyed by keeping their distance and swim away...
Freediving with dolphins is an amazing experience and everybody who first encounters a dolphin is not only completely fascinated but also touched by the inferiority feelings it causes when he tries to keep up with the swimming speed and the underwater times of the dolphin. Even experienced freedivers get highly reduced apnea times by the excitement.

I would like to give this piece of advice to anyone who encounters wild dolphins underwater: relax and do some dives rather than swimming on the surface. try to stay down for a while and never swim directly towards a dolphin, rather dive away from them in a slight angle and let them follow. this is the best way to convince them to stay.

yours
pat

 

[cebaztian]

Re: swimming with dolphins like in "The Big Blue"

This one we named happy.

Dahab Blue Hole

http://www.fridykning.se/arkiv/happy.html

Sebastian

 

[AltSaint]

I saw a documentary years ago with a marine biologist who did just that. He would swim with a wild dolphin daily and play games, blow bubble rings etc. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the movie.

smellsfishy

...could this have been 'Dolphins', the IMAX movie that came out about 4 years ago? This showed a guy called George who lives on Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos islands, and his friend Jojo. Jojo is a lone dolphin who hangs out there and meets people on his own terms. We were there 2 months ago, and saw him from the shore. We also saw a couple of Jojo's friends while heading out to a dive site, who both did a simultaneous breach, completely clearing the water. These were wild bottlenose dolphins, not released captive ones, afaik.

My best encounter, though, was last year in the Southern Red Sea. Two of us were freediving off the back of our liveaboard, when a large pod swam by about 15 metres below. I went down slowly for a closer look, and as I did, 3 came up to the surface for a breath of air, passing by about 2 or 3 metres away.

Magical Moment

 

[donmoore]

Nice pictures Sebastian. Wish I could read the story!
don

 

[monofin_diva]

i haven't swam with dolphins, but i've seen them surf many times here in CA... they will be in the breaking surf right along with the surfers.

the coolest dolphin experience i had was when i was once working on a research vessel.. and it was during a red tide. it was very late at nite and only the moon was up. you could see fish create like bioluminscent streaks in the water so i knew it was thick with the dinoflagellates.

suddenly a whole school or dolphin came along side of our boat and started bowriding. they would porpoise outta the water and create reverse shooting stars. BIG streams of sparkling water was trailing behind them. there must have been like 40 dolphin or so in the water. you could also see their glowing streaks under the water too.. it was SO DAMN COOL!! i wanted to stop the boat and get out and swim with them.

if you've never seen a school of dolphin swim through a red tide you're in for a treat. when they jump out of the water the trail of glowing water they leave behind is beyond words. when they jumped out of the water you could see this glowing trail behind them from the plankton bloom in the water.

it's like they were amused by their own glowing selves.. it was definitely one of the best experiences of my life.. they stayed with our ship for maybe an hour.

 

[Johan]

Nice pictures Sebastian. Wish I could read the story!
don

..I was going to suggest "babblefish" but before I did, I tried it myself. allthou I read the article in swedish and knew what it says, I didnt understand a thing in the swedish-to-english translation babblefish gave.... :duh

johan

 

[Manuel]

As pat fish already said the Red Sea is a good place to meet wild dolphins:
In the south there is a reef called Shaab Samadai with a lagoon called Dolphinhouse where about 50 spinner dolphins live (chance to meet: 95 %). But one year ago it was closed by the Egyptian government because up to 300 snorklers and 60 scuba divers a day were there. I also know a friend of mine who dove last summer at the wreck SS Thistlegorm (with scuba gear) and after surfacing in strong current a group of five dolphins appeared and stayed for 10 minutes.

MANUEL

 

[NiallFlinn]

I spent a week in Hurghada this spring, planning to both complete my PADI training and do my AIDA 2*. In the end the seasonal winds made the sea too choppy for freedive so I had to settle for scuba. At lunchtime, just after finishing my very first open water scuba dive, a pair of dolpins turned up behind the dive boat and started mucking about, so my buddy and I scrambled back into our suits, masks and our terrible short, bendy rented scuba fins and leapt into the water. We spent about 25 minutes literally frolicking with the frendliest pair of animals I have ever seen in my life - at one point I started swimming in big vertical circles and one of the dolphins began copying me exactly. Incredible - one of the most amazing things I've done in my life... I just wish I'd had some freedive fins and weights on

After that I had to get ready for my second PADI qualifying dive, but amazingly, as I was kneeling on the seabed at the end of the dive taking off and replacing my mask, the two dolphins returned and the lesson plan was forgotten, all of us trying to think of ways to entertain them...

If I ever get to hang out with dolphins again I'll be very happy indeed

Niall