The Best Dive Ever

I've been diving for a lot of years now, and even got my nitrox certification a few years ago, but more recently I haven't been out for about a year and a half. So when my friend Rob called up on Friday night to ask me to go diving on his boat on Saturday, it didn't take me long to say yes. I'd been planning on doing some car repair, but it was nothing I couldn't put off for another week. That night I got all my gear out, made sure the battery in the dive computer was still good, checked the BC for leaks, and loaded everything into the the car.

The next morning I was at the boat ramp at 10:00 am sharp. Rob was there, along with his boat-partners Jason and Lisa, who I have known for while. It was my first time seeing their boat, though. The boat is a 21' Answer Marine open fisherman center console. It's painted a nice flat gray. We loaded and launched the boat, and headed south. Jason took the truck and trailer to park it at a friend's house a couple miles south. The house is on the water, so we picked him up there. We got there first, because on the way Rob opened up the boat to its top speed. I could feel from the wind speed that we were going fast, but I was still surprised when I looked at the GPS and saw 55 mph. That 6-cylinder two-stroke was really moving us along.



We picked up Jason and headed out the inlet. Usually that inlet is pretty tricky, as it has a broad sweep to the south, so as you finish coming out you are running parallel to the beach. There are usually standing waves in the inlet, but this morning it was calm. Once out of the inlet we began running south to the first dive spot, when Lisa spotted a dolphin's dorsal fin. Rob saw it too, so we turned around. As we ran north through nearly flat seas Lisa and I dug out our mask, fins and snorkels. Soon we saw two fins. The boat slowed, and I went over the side, but the dolphins didn't stay. So I quickly got back on the boat and we headed north again. After a few more minutes we saw the fins again, and Lisa and I went into the water. In a few seconds I saw two dolphins directly in front of me, about fifteen feet away. They were gray on top, with white spots on the underside. I began swimming parallel to them, and they matched my speed. I looked behind me, and Lisa was right there. The four of us swam together for a minute or so, and then two more dolphins joined us. One was a juvenile, about five feet long and gray all over, without the spots of the others. Lisa and I were between the two pairs. Suddenly the four dolphins dived straight down, and I followed. The dolphins swam in a spiral descending pattern around me, watching me. I stayed with them until about 30 feet, and then turned to make a slow ascent. I looked down as I floated up, and could see the dolphins level off and swim away.

I surfaced next to Lisa, and we looked around for the boat. Then the dolphins rejoined us! They alternated between swimming beside us, and circling around us. When they circled us, we would turn to watch them, and they would match the speed of our turn exactly. They seemed curious about who and what we were. I dove down with them several more times.

It seemed like there were more dolphins, so I looked carefully, and counted a total of eight. They were all bottlenose dolphins, but they all had variations in size, thickness, and number of spots. We could hear them communicating with high-pitched squeals. They must have been calling their friends, because soon ther were 15 dolphins in the water with us. By this point Rob was in the water, too. I had begun to recognize some of the first dolphins we swam with, like the juvenile and what looked like an older dolphin with lots of spots. These dolphins stayed back, and let the newcomers have a good look at us. I dove down in the middle of the pod. It was quite a sight, as I was surrounded by dolphins everywhere I looked. I spiralled down to 40 feet this time, before I had to turn back. Rob, Lisa, and I continued to swim beside the dolphins on the surface, and more dolphins continued to appear.

Soon there were 22 dolphins, and three of us. I never felt threatened by the dolphins, although I could see the teeth in their smiles. Their bottle- shaped noses looked like effective weapons for ramming sharks or prey. The dolphins were still examining us. When Rob switched to a dolphin kick, the dolphin next to him seemed to mimic him, making exaggerated motions to show what Rob looked like. One smaller dolphin took station right next to me, and increased his (her?) speed. Soon I was swimming as fast as I could to keep up. Suddenly the dolphin shot away in a flurry of bubbles. That was the first time I had seen any cavitation; until then the dolphins had been swimming smoothly and gracefully.

Once more the dolphins dived as a group, and once more I followed. We went through 30, 40, 50 feet, watching each other. I had eye contact with one dolphin as he watched this strange animal swimming next to him. Finally at 60 feet I had to stop. For the first time the pod continued straight down, nearly out of sight to the bottom 90 or 100 feet below. The surface was a long way up, but I was so relaxed I made a leisurely ascent. On the surface the three of us tried to find words to say what a great experience this was. As we floated, the dolphins reappeared, circled us once more, and were gone.


Back on the boat, we wondered why the dolphins had spent so long (nearly 20 minutes) with us. It was probably curiousity, as they really seemed to be examining us. In addition, we are all strong swimmers, so it probably helped that we could keep up with the pod. My diving may have intrigued them, as I thought they were testing me to see how deep I would go. The three of us swam with only flutter or dolphin kicks, so we never had our arms flailing or thrashing about. And we never attemted to reach out and touch the dolphins. Throughout the experience the dolphins were the ones maintaining the distance between us. Their body control was outstanding, as you might expect from someone who swims for their entire life. Any dolphins who found themselves next to each other would almost instantly fall into a rythym, matching their movements exactly.

I got my basic scuba diver certifcation 25 years ago, and this is the first time I have ever seen dolphins in the water. Without a doubt, this ranks as the best dive ever.

Oh, and just to finish off the day, we did an 80' wreck dive, a 70' wreck dive, snorkelled a 15' wreck not far from the beach, and then barbecued with friends on the sandbar. And all on a warm, sunny, calm ocean day.


Dave Wilson
April 2005