It was a great weekend spent in search of dolphins and whales with Michelles and Antoinette's friends and family who were visiting from SA. After a years ‘deadly’ delay their group finally arrived (by car and by plane) and settled in at Mar e Sol which offered up sea-views, beautiful appointed rooms and healthy, hearty brunches created by Tarragons.
Saturdays sea’s were still on the large side; the past days cold front left a frostiness in the air and some heaving swell that we had to contend with. All was not lost though as we observed a large of some 40 dolphins surfing the swell down south. Due to their proximity of the waves, this made it impossible to enter into the water safely and we all had to be content with observing our finned friends from the boat.
All was not lost though as we had some great observations of humpback whales that seemingly enjoy it rough with multiple breaches seen.
Images: Top L; Whales ahoy! Top R: Dolfriends at sunrise Bottom L: Belly up circle swim with O2. BR: Rob and his big white spot!
Sunday morning however we were greeted with calm and soothing sea and it was not long after we launched out the bay that we located a large mixed pod milling. Unlike yesterday when the pod of dolphins did not approach at all, today members of the pod made their way directly to our boat Avalon and seemingly waited for us to slip in.
In-water we were engulfed in friendly, vocal dolfriends and had the opportunity of watching local Dolphins of Ponta Rob (white patch), Tik and Dylan popping! This has to be one of the most interesting vocalisations the dolphins have with only the males that produce the almost mechanical sound - the purpose of which is to keep the ladies or pod in tow @03:45. This trio of males were first spotted together in 1997 and remain close allies today!
Female Dimple @09:35 was amongst the mature females in the pod, she has sadly had a run in with what looks like a shark and given the amount of lesions and scarring we are happy to report she is looking strong and healthy!
Images: Female Dimple left and right, covered in scars
It was however Jagger, Switch and O2 (E.02b bdm) @5:54 who were keen to engage and approached multiple times for circle swims and bouts of conscious interaction.
Images: Local Dolphins of Ponta, including Jagger, Switch, Pluto and Gandalf in Ponta Bay
Our second Encountour of the morning, found the same pod - this time heading north in Malongane bay.
By now the group was resting and offered up no interaction as they passed silently by through the water.
Video: in comparison to our sunrise encountour this time our finned friends were noticeably quiet as they passed through...
Images: Screen grabs off the pass though....
Thank you Michelle and the rest of your group for joining us. It was a privilege to share the local dolphins and our work with you.
Did you know you can adopt a Dolphin of Ponta through the Society for Dolphin Conservation - Germany www.delphinschutz.org. By adopting a family line you directly assist in research and conservation of the local dolphins!
