I haven’t looked over my dive log lately and that, perhaps, is why I am finding it a bit difficult to remember any further big 'eyebrow raising' experiences we had while in the South Pacific (though I am sure there were many more that can be shared...more later possibly); none the less, I thought it prudent to mention another great experience I had the pleasure of enjoying somewhat recently. That being our contact (not physical contact of course) with 2 whale sharks in Honduran waters. Here we go:
A full week of diving around the island had passed by and with a single week remaining and to date no sights of a whale shark yet we were slowly becoming increasingly disillusioned about the prospect of finding one. I am sure this same feeling has been felt by hundreds and thousands of avid divers throughout the last 30+ years of recreational (and professional/commercial) oceanic exploration! This tense, uncertain feeling in the pit of our collective stomachs was not without some reprieves at different times though; let me explain: after the first morning dive we were
puttering around the area during our surface interval watching the surrounding water for 'boils' of bait fish driven to the surface by predators below as this is the tell-tale method of finding anything of note in such a vast empty ocean. Off to starboard about 150 feet in front of the boat we see just such a boil; hoping a whale shark is below, a wave of excitement washes over those on board. As we slowly close in on the boil we are treated to something entirely different: a ~5 foot long striped marlin we see snapping up those baitfish as a morning snack with much enthusiasm! The water was so clear and since the marlins depth was not more than 2 feet under at any moment, we could not help but see the full coloration of this sides as well as the slight wave action of his color changes from purple to blue to red to dark green while he was feeding. This is done as another way to confuse and disorient his prey at the moment before they are eaten. Kind of brutal, I know, but so wild and still amazingly perfect in its balance too. That fact I feel is undeniable. It was a true pleasure to see such an amazing predator in the wilds of nature, his place in the world. Yet another event of which I am humbled to have witnessed.
On another day, we had a joy of spending our surface interval snorkeling with a pod of wild dolphins numbering approximately 50-65 members. We saw them coming towards us a short way off our bow and we all quickly suited up in snorkels, masks & fins to meet them in the water as they approached us. I entered the water and as fast as I could I moved far away from the rest of the crowd and floated there in the water by myself waiting for our looming contact. I even tried to make some high pitched dolphin-like sounds as I waited for them. Most likely to no avail at all but at the time it felt like the right thing to do to at least alert them that I was there
(hoping them would come to investigate me closer). As I lay there, my back barely breaking the surface as the ocean gently jostles be back and forth a bit my eyes are locked in their direction as I keep my head just under the surface. Times passes slowly and the anticipation grows so I pop up to check on the distance to see where their dorsal fins are breaking the surface and if they are still oncoming toward my position in relation to the boat and the other divers. They are, I am right in their path. After that confirmation, my head quickly goes back under and I watch even more intently for them. Finally, I see some faint movements in the water, 25+ dark shapes moving up and down approaching me; with my heart beating faster now I cannot help making a few more high pitched dolphins sounds like you hear on the Discovery Channel (please don’t laugh too hard). They come into full view and seem to slow a bit as they see me in person. I had heard a few chirps and beeps from them as they use their sonar ability to map out the path in front of them so I already knew that they knew exactly where I was already. I laid in the water largely motionless as the pod parted to the left and right around me, giving me a birth of about 15 feet. My head darting around quickly now, trying to take it all in I noticed a few, maybe 8 to 9 members, from the next little group coming toward me diving to pass by me from below, not to be outdone I take a large breath and dive straight down to try to meet them in our mystical underwater nexus. I kick hard to gain the depth I think I will need to have a good look-see. Keeping my eyes on the group I see a head look up toward me as an extension of the downward kick, at this point I am 5 feet away, and can clearly see all the markings and some scars on their backs as they pass below me (indeed ocean life is a tough life). They pass below me as others pass me on either side and as the pod slowly goes by in its entirety I am left knowing fully how unsuited for this place I am as a man but yet connected and deeply moved to see this sight and for even a few excellent moments to have been a part of their pod, as the weakest link most certainly but I like to think of my presence as a part none the less. Go ahead, call me crazy… :)
Ok, so I don’t think I will be getting to the actual story of the whale sharks in this post, but that is kind of my style isn’t it?!?! We will save that for next time and I promise I will get right into it then. I will leave you with a final story about yet another dolphin experience we had on the exact opposite side of the island during a surface interval during our first week of diving there in Utila. As ocean experiences go, I am sure the word 'risqué' doesn’t usually factor in much at all, but what we saw while on the boat was, for lack of a better term quite 'risqué' indeed. We notice some splashing and movement at the surface about 200 feet off the port side of the boat, almost directly abeam of us and our Captain 'Waggy' (Wagner) starts to move us over in that direction as we can investigate closer. I am looking intently now and can see flashes of white and dark blue/grey very near the surface. I start to wonder if it is sharks feeding or fighting with other sharks or dolphins or something. As we close in it becomes much more obvious: what we are seeing is dolphins mating, hence the white underbelly coloration as the females turn over for the males. Upon seeing this, the Dive Masters start to tell us some random facts about this topic: that dolphins don’t just mate for procreation but rather for the propagation of close feelings of community & togetherness, that a female will mate with multiple males at the same time and that males will mate with each other also - this being more for the maintaining of that strong connection within the pod (to keep the pod in close 'emotional' contact if you will). I found these facts very surprising as you could probably imagine, ESPECIALLY...no surprise here...the last one I just shared with you! None the less, some of us requested permission to enter the water in snorkel gear to observe more closely the activity we were having some trouble viewing from the surface, as the immense glare from the sun was difficult to see through, even with sun glasses on. We were promptly told "No" with the following reason: during mating and feeding times, dolphins many times take on a much different 'persona' than that of what most humans associate with them. This is much like your family dog being fun loving and gentle to your children but when eating his food in his bowl, that same dog may snap or growl a bit at those same kids when they approach him at that time. One Dive Master told us a story of how a snorkeler was actually rammed by a couple dolphins after entering the water close-by while some in the pod were mating. He was rammed so hard that their hard snouts tore his skin and broke a few ribs to boot. For sure, a recreational diver doesn’t need to hear more than a couple stories similar to this one to start thinking "maybe I'll stay on the boat this time!!" What a thought!
Ok I think that's all for now. See you next time.
A full week of diving around the island had passed by and with a single week remaining and to date no sights of a whale shark yet we were slowly becoming increasingly disillusioned about the prospect of finding one. I am sure this same feeling has been felt by hundreds and thousands of avid divers throughout the last 30+ years of recreational (and professional/commercial) oceanic exploration! This tense, uncertain feeling in the pit of our collective stomachs was not without some reprieves at different times though; let me explain: after the first morning dive we were
puttering around the area during our surface interval watching the surrounding water for 'boils' of bait fish driven to the surface by predators below as this is the tell-tale method of finding anything of note in such a vast empty ocean. Off to starboard about 150 feet in front of the boat we see just such a boil; hoping a whale shark is below, a wave of excitement washes over those on board. As we slowly close in on the boil we are treated to something entirely different: a ~5 foot long striped marlin we see snapping up those baitfish as a morning snack with much enthusiasm! The water was so clear and since the marlins depth was not more than 2 feet under at any moment, we could not help but see the full coloration of this sides as well as the slight wave action of his color changes from purple to blue to red to dark green while he was feeding. This is done as another way to confuse and disorient his prey at the moment before they are eaten. Kind of brutal, I know, but so wild and still amazingly perfect in its balance too. That fact I feel is undeniable. It was a true pleasure to see such an amazing predator in the wilds of nature, his place in the world. Yet another event of which I am humbled to have witnessed.On another day, we had a joy of spending our surface interval snorkeling with a pod of wild dolphins numbering approximately 50-65 members. We saw them coming towards us a short way off our bow and we all quickly suited up in snorkels, masks & fins to meet them in the water as they approached us. I entered the water and as fast as I could I moved far away from the rest of the crowd and floated there in the water by myself waiting for our looming contact. I even tried to make some high pitched dolphin-like sounds as I waited for them. Most likely to no avail at all but at the time it felt like the right thing to do to at least alert them that I was there
(hoping them would come to investigate me closer). As I lay there, my back barely breaking the surface as the ocean gently jostles be back and forth a bit my eyes are locked in their direction as I keep my head just under the surface. Times passes slowly and the anticipation grows so I pop up to check on the distance to see where their dorsal fins are breaking the surface and if they are still oncoming toward my position in relation to the boat and the other divers. They are, I am right in their path. After that confirmation, my head quickly goes back under and I watch even more intently for them. Finally, I see some faint movements in the water, 25+ dark shapes moving up and down approaching me; with my heart beating faster now I cannot help making a few more high pitched dolphins sounds like you hear on the Discovery Channel (please don’t laugh too hard). They come into full view and seem to slow a bit as they see me in person. I had heard a few chirps and beeps from them as they use their sonar ability to map out the path in front of them so I already knew that they knew exactly where I was already. I laid in the water largely motionless as the pod parted to the left and right around me, giving me a birth of about 15 feet. My head darting around quickly now, trying to take it all in I noticed a few, maybe 8 to 9 members, from the next little group coming toward me diving to pass by me from below, not to be outdone I take a large breath and dive straight down to try to meet them in our mystical underwater nexus. I kick hard to gain the depth I think I will need to have a good look-see. Keeping my eyes on the group I see a head look up toward me as an extension of the downward kick, at this point I am 5 feet away, and can clearly see all the markings and some scars on their backs as they pass below me (indeed ocean life is a tough life). They pass below me as others pass me on either side and as the pod slowly goes by in its entirety I am left knowing fully how unsuited for this place I am as a man but yet connected and deeply moved to see this sight and for even a few excellent moments to have been a part of their pod, as the weakest link most certainly but I like to think of my presence as a part none the less. Go ahead, call me crazy… :)Ok, so I don’t think I will be getting to the actual story of the whale sharks in this post, but that is kind of my style isn’t it?!?! We will save that for next time and I promise I will get right into it then. I will leave you with a final story about yet another dolphin experience we had on the exact opposite side of the island during a surface interval during our first week of diving there in Utila. As ocean experiences go, I am sure the word 'risqué' doesn’t usually factor in much at all, but what we saw while on the boat was, for lack of a better term quite 'risqué' indeed. We notice some splashing and movement at the surface about 200 feet off the port side of the boat, almost directly abeam of us and our Captain 'Waggy' (Wagner) starts to move us over in that direction as we can investigate closer. I am looking intently now and can see flashes of white and dark blue/grey very near the surface. I start to wonder if it is sharks feeding or fighting with other sharks or dolphins or something. As we close in it becomes much more obvious: what we are seeing is dolphins mating, hence the white underbelly coloration as the females turn over for the males. Upon seeing this, the Dive Masters start to tell us some random facts about this topic: that dolphins don’t just mate for procreation but rather for the propagation of close feelings of community & togetherness, that a female will mate with multiple males at the same time and that males will mate with each other also - this being more for the maintaining of that strong connection within the pod (to keep the pod in close 'emotional' contact if you will). I found these facts very surprising as you could probably imagine, ESPECIALLY...no surprise here...the last one I just shared with you! None the less, some of us requested permission to enter the water in snorkel gear to observe more closely the activity we were having some trouble viewing from the surface, as the immense glare from the sun was difficult to see through, even with sun glasses on. We were promptly told "No" with the following reason: during mating and feeding times, dolphins many times take on a much different 'persona' than that of what most humans associate with them. This is much like your family dog being fun loving and gentle to your children but when eating his food in his bowl, that same dog may snap or growl a bit at those same kids when they approach him at that time. One Dive Master told us a story of how a snorkeler was actually rammed by a couple dolphins after entering the water close-by while some in the pod were mating. He was rammed so hard that their hard snouts tore his skin and broke a few ribs to boot. For sure, a recreational diver doesn’t need to hear more than a couple stories similar to this one to start thinking "maybe I'll stay on the boat this time!!" What a thought!
Ok I think that's all for now. See you next time.
wow, neat stories.
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