Face to face- Snorkeling with dolphins in the open ocean

I must admit that I cannot really recall my first ever snorkeling tour with Lobosonda since it was part of my training, which left me focused on understanding my role as a guide in this activity and the responsibility it entailed. In other words, I didn’t have those brief moments of actually enjoying the encounter with the animals. That all came a little later and I remember that tour as if it were yesterday.

I was always a fan of snorkelling, you could say that water is my personal drug of choice and I remember thinking how inviting the calm, deep-blue crystal clear waters of Madeira seemed that day. I gathered our participants for the briefing, most of whom had ample experience; some were divers, others had been snorkelling several times and had already enjoyed encounters with the different wonders of our oceans. Two of the participants were rookies and had little experience with snorkelling equipment. They all had one thing in common; they were incredibly excited to meet dolphins in the open ocean. After briefing the guests and distributing the equipment, we sped out on board our Stenella to find the species she was lovingly named after, the Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis).

Before long, Daniel, the captain of our zodiac, had news. “We have spotted dolphins” he said “Two miles out, get ready!”. My wetsuit was on up to my waist and I hadn’t even zipped it up properly when, quite suddenly, we were literally surrounded by spotted dolphins, gleefully leaping alongside our zodiac. I told our delighted guests to get water ready before we carefully slid into the Atlantic, one by one, and positioned ourselves along the snorkelling rope. The dolphins that had sped so close to our boat were definitely around, we could hear them everywhere, but we couldn’t see them. Then, like ghosts, they materialised from the blue mist and began to playfully swim near us. After two rounds of snorkelling, all the guests were more confident in the activity which gave me some moments to appreciate the scene unfolding around me.

The first thing that struck me during these moments was the incredible size of the school. There were at least 50 dolphins swimming around us, mainly curious little juveniles, which meant that the entire group must have been much, much bigger. The juveniles were playful and occasionally approached us before quickly returning to the safety of the group. When dolphins first approach you they do so head first, buzzing you with their sonar before turning their head to take a glance at you. Some individuals approached briefly before rejoining the group, others hovered near us for a substantial amount of time. It was absolutely magical.

At Lobosonda we acknowledge that dolphins are sophisticated beings and that we are guests in their world so we maintain a responsible approach leading to passive encounters during our tours. Snorkelling, one could say, is somehow more invasive than a normal whale-watching tour so our team developed a unique method for these special encounters during which our guests hold onto a snorkelling rope and are gently towed through the Atlantic by our Stenella. That way the guests stay together along the rope, which is important for safety reasons and gives the animals time to decided whether they wish to approach us.

The choice to approach is very important on the part of the animals and us granting them this is a matter of respect. In the open ocean, the superiority of dolphins in their habitat means that they solely command the quality and length of these encounters, which stirred up a pressing question in me, one that inspired me to dig deeper and do some research of my own into the mysterious world of dolphins. Why do these dolphins, especially so many of them, take such an interest in us? My research brought me to the findings of Dr. Denise Herzing in the Bahamas who, together with a team of researchers and volunteers, regularly meets a group of spotted dolphins. Considering the fact that these animals are self-aware, have a long-term memory and are capable of recognising one another through their “signature whistles” means we cannot exclude the possibility that they may remember certain human individuals. So why continuously meet them? Curiosity as the descriptive term just doesn’t cut it, its just too vague.

Despite the reality that we may never understand the actual motivation behind a dolphins “curiosity”, one thing is for certain: we play a very active role in the quality of such encounters. The way we behave in the water also affects the animals eagerness to approach us. Such a snorkelling tour is simply an example of how the way we treat other beings is reflected back onto us. It’s a tale as old as time; respect towards other living creatures is often rewarded with memorable experiences, like the one I was able to share with this extremely cooperative group of guests today. I’m confident that I’m not the only one who has fond memories of that sunny morning on the vast and generous Atlantic Ocean.

By Paula Thake