Wild Spinner Dolphins Pass by Mantas!

So many times on wild dolphin swims we have seen manta rays hovering over the reef at a fish cleaning station or skimming the surface feeding on plankton.  When we're lucky, in the water watching the mantas, spinners will come by.  Over and over I have tried to get photos of the two very different species together.  The dolphins dont seem as fascinated and entranced by the majestic giant manta rays as we are; they swim around them in the deeper water or keep to the very shallow reef closer to shore.  When a dolphin swims at the surface above the manta at the bottom, it is too distant to get both in the same frame.
Dolphins from a remarkable day with my sister's neighbor separated into two pods, one turning south and the other headed north.  We followed the dolphins south, and then turned to find mantas at the manta cleaning station. There were 5 huge manta rays on the deeper sandy bottom.  Two of them glided over the shallow reef to be cleaned, hovering like a small plane practicing 360's around a wingtip. 
"Dolphins, headed right for you!  If you ever get a photo of dolphins and mantas, this is your chance!"  Kit yelled from the helm.
I waited over the mantas.   The mantas never reacted as 88 or so dolphins streamed by on either side of us.  I was frantic, trying to fit both into one frame, turning the camera longways, watching for the dolphins closest to any of the five mantas.  Particularly, I waited by the mantas over the reef.  The video shows my frustration, my frantic pans from mantas to dolphins, as I hoped for the two to converge.

You can hear my surprise and triumph as the dolphins come between me floating at the surface and the mantas right on top of the reef.

Dolphin Dreams,
Roberta Goodman
Wild Dolphin Swims Hawaii
Kailua Kona

Roberta presenting at SETI Contact Conference

Wild Dolphin Swims Hawaii's Roberta Goodman presenting a talk at

http://Contact-Conference.org

Love to see you there~!!!

Announcing CONTACT 2012

• A Premier Forum for the Future •

Astronomers have given us a new bucketful of worlds to consider for habitable

planets and inhabitable star systems.At

CONTACT 2012 we will explore this

new galaxy of possibilities with NASA and SETI scientists, noted science fiction

authors, artists, composers, and others. (See the list at the bottom of the page.)

CONTACT 2012 will be held on March 30-April 1 at the Domain Hotel in

Sunnyvale, CA. Friday sessions will be held at the SETI Institute. Our keynote

speaker will be SETI pioneer Frank Drake.

In 2010, CONTACT celebrated the start of its second quarter century with a

resurrection of our original focus on COTI (Cultures of the Imagination). The

event was such a success that we will again return to the thrilling days of

yesteryear at CONTACT 2012 with

COTI Classic. Human and alien teams will be

recruited from our presenters and audience; and Contact between the teams will

bring the conference to a climax on Sunday. This will please those longtimers

who have been clamoring for a return for years, and newcomers who can now

join the event that made our initial conferences so successful. Award-winning

science fiction author Larry Niven will act as COTI advisor and trouble-shooter.

Since CONTACT’S birth more than 25 years ago our exciting and responsible

speculation has made our conference and organization unique and fun.

CONTACT remains committed to its original interdisciplinary, creative and

scientific approach to humanity’s future. As usual, we will offer symposia on a

wide range of topics, with speakers sharing new ideas with the audience. Our

program will be updated on our website: www.contact-conference.org.

Don't miss CONTACT 2012!

Register and reserve your room NOW!

Looking forward to working and playing together …

Participants:

Phil Aaberg, Karen Anderson, Penny Boston, Bill Clancey, Bruce Damer, Kathryn

Denning, Frank Drake, Donna Duerk, Dennis Etler, Chris Ford, Gus Frederick, Jim Funaro,

Roberta Goodman, Al Harrison, Randall Hayes, Jeroen Lapré, Rob McCann, Larry Niven, Gerald

Nordley, Jim Pass, Doug Raybeck, Reed Riner, David Sanborn Scott, Donald Scott, Michael

Kona Dolphins Circling Mooring Ball

Dolphins this morning subdued, slow, pensive.  Waited for them in the shallow coral, they approached and circled.  A whistle bubble stream with no sound, beyond my range. Perhaps the dolphins were relaxing after a week of turbulent water.  Summerlike calm, a relief from the winter storms. We rejoiced in silence and poise.   
I wondered if they had experienced a death.  Later found that a whale was hit by a boat yesterday, not believed dead.   

Dolphin Dreams,
Roberta Goodman
Wild Dolphin Swims Hawaii

Valentine's Day Dolphin Swim

Sue snorkels alongside the dolphins beautifully!  As does my other swim guest, a doctor from Japan:



The dolphins have treated us to wonderful times in their underwater world this month.  I will be posting more swims and encounters of various sorts.

Dolphin Dreams!
Roberta Goodman
Wild Dolphin Swims Hawaii

Wild Dolphin Swim with Family & Stitches in Kona

Christiana's dream came true with this amazingly close dolphin encounter. Amidst a hundred dolphins, one swam with the family exclusively. Capturing our attention for over an hour, Stitches would occasionally veer off to jump and spin. He carried a small remora on his underside. The spinner dolphins spin trying to dislodge these hitchhikers.

 A pod of 200 dolphins thrills visitors, just one enchanting dolphin fulfills a dream and creates a lifelong memory to cherish.

Dolphin Dreams,
Roberta Goodman
Wild Dolphin Swims Hawaii

Heart of DolphinLand

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I entered DolphinLand again yesterday!!!  Ruffles led me into the Heart of DolphinLand on 1/20/2012.
Incredible swim with 19 large males and the song of the Humpbacks in the background!

 This next video is part one, taken one year ago on Jan. 5, 2011.


 
Pamela Polland's gorgeous song, "The Heart of the World," goes so well with these one-take sequences of very friendly dolphins.  The dolphins were lying in my lap, as I say. ~~ gentle, curious, investigative. We were in the "Heart of DolphinLand" I kept telling my guests.

Bottlenose Dolphins Play with Fish Ball

Bottlenose Dolphins Playing with Fish Ball

Catching a fleeting glimpse of a dorsal fin tucked away in a cove, we drove the boat over to find out whose it was. About five adult and 2 young bottlenose were playing with fish. I slid in to film. The water was quite murky from recent wave action. Adults were seriously tearing through the fish and spinning around them. The babies, about 6 months old perhaps, were watching and had time to check me out. When one adult caught a fish, the others gathered around. I think that this isnt a usual prey and the others wondered what it tasted like. Both babies came to nurse their moms right after, which is in the video.
After the catch I saw that there were two sharks on the bottom, perhaps sand bar sharks, quickly turning back and forth over the reef.

Previous video of bottlenose playing with a fish ball...


Seeing dorsal fins popping up around the boat, we checked out what was going on. Below the boat we saw a huge dark cloud, turned out to be a fish ball. I got into the water to film.
Nine bottlenose dolphins were spending the morning playing with a school of fish. The dolphins weren't hunting, no open mouth attempts to catch the fish. The adult bots were doing what I was doing, scanning the bottom below us with long distance sonar beams. They created a safe playground for the young bottlenose.
The youngsters glided into and around the fish ball, stroking them almost and creating patterns. The fish didn't seem to mind the dolphins and the dolphins didn't seem to mind my presence. 
My camera memory ran out, doggoneit!  Later I found that most of my footage was out of focus unfortunately.
These fish are thought to be escapees from the nearby fish farm.