Swimming with Dolphins: The Chance to Frolic with Flipper
Posted byNicholson Yacht Charters Administrator
Swimming with dolphins is as old as myth—the Greeks told tales of these creatures carrying shipwrecked sailors to safety. In the wild, dolphins can swim 40 to 50 miles a day and dive hundreds of feet deep. Dolphins travel in pods – complex social groupings – and often form lifelong bonds. Extremely intelligent animals, dolphins in the wild enjoy endless degrees of mental stimulation. Amazingly, charter crews on yachts in the Caribbean have been reporting that dolphins have been swimming in to visit them while they are in the water snorkeling! This happens on about 40% of their charters now. It seems, therefore, that dolphins are just as curious about humans as humans are about dolphins.
Shelly Tucker aboard the 65′ Irwin ketch THREE MOONS in the Virgin Islands sent us this photo above with this amazing story: “The mother dolphin swam with her baby around the boat for about 30 minutes while we were doing the lunch dishes. Finally, I threw my towel down and said, “Forget the dishes! Let’s go play with the dolphins.” She really was introducing her young to humans and the boat. We had a great time watching the baby mimic our every move!”
Dolphin swim snorkel scuba dive on Braveheart
2 ratings
45 views
Captain of the 58′ catamaran S/Y BRAVEHEART Jerry Blair says, “We got to swim with a wild dolphin last week. Really neat creatures, and this one definitely was eyeing Dawn as she videoed. We usually get to swim with dolphins a couple times a year now….”
Catamaran MIMBAW’s crew Daniel and Tais, with charter guests, diving with an un-named visitor in the Caribbean….Photo courtesy of the 41’ Catamaran MIMBAW, for charter in the BVI
“You can bet that if I spy a pod of friendly dolphins cruising by, I’ll be making a beeline for the sea in hopes of replicating this amazing scene.”
Crew on charter yachts in the Virgin Islands say they have been swimming with dolphins on about 40% of their cruises now…. You see a dolphin in the water; now you jump in with snorkel gear and free dive around them. The dolphins stick around for a long time! Two hours, sometimes! They love it, I guess…. The above video is not from one of our charter boats, but it shows great footage of swimmers with a large pod of dolphins off Curacao. Nice!
Dolphin Marine Parks now open on Tortola
and Nassau
While nothing matches the thrill of swimming with dolphins in the wild, Tortola and Nassau now offer marine parks where you can interact with friendly bottlenose dolphins, see them perform stunts, respond to your hand commands and hold on to a dorsal fin as they pull you around in the water. Lagoons and water theme parks that offer these programs include the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas and Dolphin Discovery in Tortola. Experience one of these encounters to play with and observe the gentle, intelligent creatures while creating lasting memories.
Snorkeling with wild dolphins is a better idea than scuba diving with them, since dolphins find the bubbles from a scuba apparatus annoying and might respond by leaving the area.
For details on yacht charters in the Caribbean, please contact Shelby Nicholson or Sylvia Weston at 1-800-662-6066 or email us at nikyacht@comcast.net.
