Even without a friendly pod of dolphins our stay in Deshaies, Guadeloupe would have been pretty special. The the natural beauty of the area along with the food and culture of the island would have been enough.
But Saturday, just as we were finishing up school, Will looked out the window and said “Hey look, dolphins!”. We all raced up and saw a pod of dolphins splashing around the anchorage in the middle of the boats. Cameras were fetched…
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| Danielle (foreground) as a dolphin comes for a class pass |
There were a few people in the water with snorkels near this pod of dolphins. We quickly saw the dolphins were not the least bit bothered by the snorkelers, in fact the seemed to be weaving in and out near them. Danielle immediately wanted to go in the water with them; I opted to stay on deck with my camera to take some pictures from the boat; no one else was inclined to go in.
Very quickly I realized my mistake! Danielle was having the time of her life with the dolphins. Though they only surfaced to breath, and splash and play a bit they were quite visible below the water. With excellent visibility in the clear harbor waters, she could see them playing and frolicking below the surface while they weren’t visible from above the water. When they did come up, they came up close enough to touch, though Danielle didn’t try to since she didn’t want to spook them. She saw a number of interesting and amusing behaviors, including one dolphin that was making a game of blowing bubbles and playing with them!
But two days later, about the same time (just as school was ending) along came what we believe to be the same pod of dolphins! There were a couple of juveniles with them, and one distinctively marked adult with a scar from some sort of net or other bit of garbage he’d gotten trapped in. Danielle and I quickly grabbed our gear and headed for the water.
We were not disappointed. Again they stayed around for about an hour. We watched them scratching their backs on the bottom, chasing each other around and playing what looked like tag – and we watched them watching us. This time we had them to ourselves, no one seemed to notice them or us…or perhaps it was the few jellyfish in the water that was keeping people away.
Danielle has had the opportunity to have some “dolphin contact” before, both she and Will enjoyed a Dolphin Encounter at the Curacao Dolphin Academy a few years ago which they loved. But this was very different, she said, and a lot better. Because these dolphins were wild, and they were there because they wanted to be there with us. I’d have to agree with her.
