The Three Coconuts

This was and will probably always be one of the most awesome, profound, humbling experiences of our lives. We weren't sure what to expect, swimming with dolphins in the wild...how would that work. I really expected just to hop in the water and watch them swim past, then climb back on the boat, repeat sequence. That was NOT the case. We met Jan, our guide, and Nancy, our captain and were aboard the Dolphin TLC by around 9 a.m. Coming out of the harbour we immediately saw a huge TURTLE. He was just floating, but as we went by he lifted his wise, wrinkley beautiful head and breathed. I'm so in love. I told Blain this is good news because when he's old, wrinkley, and bald, obviously I'll still be enamoured!

On the way out to sea Nancy explained the process. If the dolphins are travelling she'll take the boat in front of them and off to one side, allowing us to slip into the water and hopefully interact. Obviously the dolphins can swim much faster than us (even with flippers and snorkels) and they can dive, so they can check themselves out of the experience anytime they choose. Also learned to swim with arms at sides to not threaten the dolphins, no freestyle here. That got hard because I could have used some extra speed at times. We learned about the different types of dolphins: Pacific bottlenose, spinners and spotted. We got to meet the spinners who were animated, playful and in a bit of a hurry today. But our best experience was with a pod of Pacific bottlenose, who tend to be shy, but the male of the pod displayed some real curiousity and tolerance.

Our first dip in we watched the spinners cruise by and could keep them in sight a brief period, but they didn't really interact. Clarity of vision was still awesome and they didn't seem frightened by us they just keep travelling, and interacting with each other. They frequently go and touch or rub up against one another, usually around the face area just like cats, only they are still swimming. They constantly roll, dive, surface and touch during movement. They also showed a consistant interrest in the wakes of boats. Any boat that went by, the dolphins would go to the wakes and surface in a row to ride the wave. It was very uniform, occurred repeatedly, and they did not normally travel in an eschaelon pattern. I'm convinced they were just playing.

Next we met a pod of four bottlenose. One large male, two suspected females and an adolescent. There were some other dolphin experience boats around following this pod, but due to the movement no one got overcrowded. We were very fortunate to have our boat to ourselves, and we all could swim fast enough to stay in contact with the dolphins much longer than the other crews. Nancy just followed us with the boat, and showed up to pick us up when we lost our dolphins and were panting in the middle of the ocean. We swam with this group for long enough for Blain to even become anaerobic. We dropped the other tourists and even lost our guide after a few minutes. It was amazing!! Tyler hung on till she rubbed all the skin off her toes kicking so hard. The male kept diving, then circling around back to swim up beside us, then repeating the sequence. At one point Blain just looked over and Tyler was just off his hip with the big male passing on the off side. The male seemed intrigued and was bouncing sonar off of us. He was so close I could have touched him, the sonar was loud and clear, I knew I was hyperventilating but still can't tell you if it was due to keeping up the pace or from excitement. Eventually I had to stop because Iwas taking on water. Blain kept up longer but we all regrouped afterward, trying to tread water, breathe, talk and wanting to jump up and down without drowning. Along came Nancy to drag us out of the ocean... so we could do it again.

Our next swim was even longer and faster. I got circled a few times, they liked to swim under me. Tyler was just behind the groups, thankfully trying to take some of the few photos we got. Blain actually became part of the middle of the pod. He had learned to dive with the snorkel then clear it for breathing. The dolphins seemed to take this as an invitation for play behavior. He had dolphins below and on each side of him. We swam like this for what seemed like forever, I had to stop for air, then the dolphins went deep and were gone. Tyler, Jan, and I swam up to Blain and we were all alone. Wherever the other boats were they and their passengers had long since given up. You swim so hard and are so focused on the scene below the water that you have no idea how far or what direction you are going. It did cross my mind that I could swim headfirst into another boat, but it wasn't a big enough concern to make it worthwhile to look up from what was going on with my pod. And nothing was worth the distraction that could make you lose your pod. Nancy was always nearby to retrieve us, and Jan was in the water to make sure we were all safe. She had to trust Blain to take care of himself though, because she admitted she'd never had a guest she couldn't keep up with.

Afterwards, we did a little driving around, looking at the Big Island from the water. Best way to see all the beaches. Had a nice sandwich lunch on the bow, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Kailua Kona... I can't even believe it as I'm writing this.

One more quick swim with a much larger pod as we headed back to the harbour. Then to dock the boat. Long goodbyes, impossible not to make friends with good people after sharing a day like today. Nancy and Jan are both truly ambassadors of the island, the ocean and it's inhabitants. Remainder of the day was just an afterglow. I rode the bike on the queen K, Blain did the shopping and laundry, while Tyler worked on homework. Went to Jackie Reys again for outstanding supper and talked about our day.