Dolphins

[longjohnsilver]

How many of you have had the pleasure of dolphins playing around your boat?

Having been going out regularly for the last 20 years it is only in the past 5 or 6 years that we have even seen a dolphin and now they are a fairly regular occurence, but always very welcome. They often make a beeline for Blue Fisher and ride the bow waves or veer off and jump through the wake.

Is this an experience just down our way in the SW or are they now making regular appearances all around the UK.

It was always one of my ambitions to swim with dolphins, I realised this a few years ago, only trouble was that the buggers were swimming around the Exmouth shit buoy at the time!! Still, was a memorable experience that I will no doubt repeat, hopefully in cleaner waters next time.

Whatever we have planned, the appearance of dolphins always makes our day, what magnificent critters they are.

 

[ArthurWood]

LJS - just about every time we take the boat out

 

[ccscott49]

We have literally hundreds of them off the portugese coast, they seem to like my boat, seems to be the noise of the props/engines, 7 knots seems to be ideal for them to play with the bow wave on my boat. I have pictures of fifteen of them under the bows! The dog loves them, a curiously never barks at them. All you have to do is walk up to the bow and he's there looking over the side for his mates! I just love them! Along with the bigh humpbacks I saw off the rig in Gabon, sometimes I like this job! Thers lots of them in Gib bay aswell. I also saw a Minke whale just inside the med, what a wonderful life it is!

 

[Col]

Seen them in the Med, Bay of Biscay, Lyme regis and one solitary one in Southampton water about 8 years ago.
Always try to get them on film, specially when they are doing a "display"

 

[burgundyben]

LJS, you're right, its great to see them, not often in the solent but I have seen them often around the Channel Islands, whilst crossing Biscay late last year I we spotted a whale (or at least a huge 30 ft fish...), that was truly amazing, the moment was spoiled a bit by the helicopter arriving to take away a injured crew member, but nonetheless, we saw a whale.

Lets hear it or Dolphins, hoorah!!

......girls, girls, get back, please, one at a time......

 

[DepSol]

Always on the look out for them but have never seen them except once and stopped to turn slowly to get a closer look then 2 jetskiers went right thru the middle of them and scared them off.

Even went up to Alderney to swim with Randy ,the dolphin that was in the english news recently off Weymouth as he is a freindly chap (thats why they call him Randy likes the chicks!) but he had left for Cherbourg the evening before.

Probably heard I was coming to pay hima visit ;-)

Dom


I just want my boat back in the water ;-(

 

[Guest]

two years ago in the western Solent - between Hurst Castle and Alum Bay - 3 or 4 playing around the boat briefly. A truly magical experience.

 

[tcm]

Yes, I have.

There was one in the water just behind our boat near balearics.

I slowed down very gently so as not to disturb it. Once stopped, we could see it seemed not to be moving too far, so I slid into the water very carefully off the swiming platform.

The water was quite cold, and we a way off shore but i didn't have time for wetsuits.

Being a bit cautious, and the boat moving, I got the swim ladder down. The dolphin didn't approach, but didn't take off.

The boys wanted to get in too, the second actually making a bit of a splash, yet it still it stayed less tyhan a boat length away.

Anyway, we left it cos it was nearly deflated and we already had a crocodile. Yeah well serve you right LJS for the weather jibe and I hope they bite yer legs off <G>.

 

[DavidJ]

Weve had them off Elba and Sardinia. They seem to follow the fishing boats but from a great distance, I guess they are wise about fishing nets.
I must admit that they didn't seem too pleased to see us. As we got closer they spent more time under the water. Apparently there are many dolphins washed up with damage that could be caused by props.
Interested in the 7knots speed that ccscot mentions, I'll try that next time.
A great treat every time we see them
David

 

[geeps]

We had several dolphins following our boat during a night sail from Estepona to Sotogrande last summer. They were sort of illuminated by the phosphoresence caused by the algae (?) in the water - an amazing experience! Best place to see them was hanging over the bow. Gibraltar bay is also a good spot - but apparently the dolphin watching boat is so noisy that it scares them off!

 

[longjohnsilver]

Weather jibe - who me?

Don't know what you mean tcm! <BG>

 

[KevL]

Saw some on the Conwy to Fleetwood trip, beautiful creatures they are too. Apparently you are supposed to report sightings to someone collecting data on them, there was a leaflet in the marina about it with a number on it. I'm going to the boat this weekend so I'll pick up a leaflet and post the details.



--
Tides - Never there when you need one.
Wind - Always there when you don't.

KevL

 

[Scubadoo]

Always on the lookout, but never seen one yet. Saw some two years ago in OBan Scotland on a dive trip.

However while in Aussie last year I was knee deep in water with them and feeding them, and a few days later did Whale Watching off Perth - fantastic.

Now then all you dolphin lovers, why don't you adopt one through the Whale & Dolphin Sociaty or just make a donation - it goes to research and helps protect them. Been a member for many years and great to receive newletters about them off our coastline.

RM.

 

[chippie]

Quite often see them here in NZ, occasionally orcas and large whales.

 

[rich]

Last June,coming back from a weekend in Sark, we came round the corner at Corbiere and were met by at least 30 dolphins, playing round the boat and accompanying us all the way along to St Aubins Bay. They seemed to be in groups of about 5, and when one lot had veered off we were joined by their friends. The 2 sialing boats which had travelled back from Sark just behind us didn't see a single one, and out of all the boats out on a sunny Sunday evening we seemed to be the only ones who had them close to us - absolutely magical!

rich )

 

[chippie]

Yes, they certainly seem to lift one's spirits. I remember one pod off the west coast of Northland that put on a show of leaping, standing on their tails and then coming right up to the boat and looking at us. They did this for about half an hour during which time we realised that each performer had his own set of tricks. We were able to identify individuals by markings, a nick on a fin -that sort of thing.
For a guest on the boat it can be the highlight of the trip.

 

[numenius]

Off Mull many years ago where I believe they are quite common - saw one off Blyth (my friend thought I was having him on until it popped up behind the boat again - he having sailed for years and never seen one before then) on the NE coast last year, and quite surpisingly up river at my mooring at Amble (Northumberland) last year as I was rowing the tender out - in about 8ft depth. Had a non-boating friend aboard who seemed to think it was terrifying and couldnt get aboard the big boatr quick enough LOL. Always a real treat to see them.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/boaty1965/index.htm

 

[Guest]

Re: Dolphin in weymouth

have to try and claim the crown on this one .Easter weekend just gone we sailed from southampton en route to weymouth weather bright and sunny slighty to moderate on approach into weymouth bay i thought i possibly saw the shadow of a dolphin just under the bow wave however after straining my eyes for about 5 minutes put it down to wishful thinking 10 minutes later we started to deploy the fenders for entrance into harbour when my 2nd in command { the missuss} screamed and jumped back, Concerned, i asked her what the problem was and she replied it was a scream of elation as a dolphin had jumped out of the water just as she was leaning over securing the fender.
by now we are on the final harbour approach and i brought the throttles back
therefore eliminating the bow wave and wake. It was then that we could clearly
see the dolphin swimming right around us and occasionally breaking the surface.
The suprising thing about this dolphin was that it escorted us right up to the lifting
bridge in weymouth harbour.
People were emptying out of the harbour pubs to watch this dolphin playing around our boat while we were waiting for the bridge to open. it even made the local press
first time a dolphin had beeen seen there for twenty years, we were truly honoured
the ironic part of this true story is that, after we departed weymouth three days
later it appeared again as if it was piloting us through the potland bill inner channel
then a couple of miles past the bill it dissapeared and we didnt see it again.
the big question i would really like the answer to is could it have been trying to communicate with us or maybe my echo sounders were giving it some kind of signature, does anybody know if dolphins follow echo sounders or not , they must be able to hear them. apparantly this dolphin stayed around weymouth for about another week even swimming with people on the beach and then it was gone.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Randy!

That's his name and has been seen in Alderney on several different occasions as well as Cherbourg. Apparently he followed a local fishing boat back across the channel.

 

[Dipper]

Re: Dolphin in weymouth

That dolphin has been around Weymouth quite a lot recently but I have only just launched my boat so haven't had a chance to see it.

Two years ago (or was it three?) about 3 or 4 dolphins were resident in Portland harbour. They seemed to like my boat and I could almost guarantee they would find me shortly after leaving my mooring. One of them liked swimming upside down right by the rudder and bashing it as I was sailing along. Quite unnerving having the tiller wrenched from side to side as if by magic. I thought this was quite good fun until someone said a local Weymouth yacht had its rudder broken by this dolphin. Vandal!

On one occassion they followed me back to the start of a race and messed around on the start line. That caused a loss of concentration to the crews and skippers!

I have also seen (better behaved) dolphins by the bar at Salcombe and in Lyme Bay.

I'm sure the earlier post about echo sounders has some relevance. I would have thought that the clicking of the sounder could easily attract a dolphin from some distance away.