Mantas, Dolphins, Whales!
After
climbing over large swells to get into the bay at Makalewena, the water was
quiet and clear. Mom-baby-escorts and
pairs of humpbacks were scattered around nearby. Mantas hovered over the reef. A small pod of 9 spinner dolphins circled
around and under us when we slipped into the water. A piercing whistle was repeated over and
over. It became apparent they were
waiting for something, when the pod of around 200 showed up heading towards
us. The dolphins streamed by and
somewhere in their midst was a single young whale.
They were on the move and all we could was watch them
fly by. 
After
they pass, we board the boat and head out to watch an active group, which began
with a breach right in front of us. A
couple of males and a female, one male slapping the water with his enormous
pectoral fin over and over. Fifteen
minutes or so and it was over, perhaps the female made her choice.
200 dolphins passed right over the reef and the sandy shelf where the reef drops off.
On either side of us, right over the shallow reef and
the sandy shelf about 30’ below. At the
end of the stream of dolphins, a last group escorts the young whale along the
bottom, surprising us and Koie too! I wish this imbed would show the video here.... but you can also find it at https://vimeo.com/38416881
I added the sound track. We commonly hear the amazing song of the humpbacks while snorkeling with manta rays and dolphins. My camera didnt pick up the ambient sounds well, so I added this recording we made while in a pod of dolphins and with whalesong in the background. The dolphin sounds dont really fit the scene, as they were sonaring and squawking around our hydrophone and the dolphins in the video were quite quiet with some sonar and whistles.
Dolphin Dreams!
Roberta Goodman
