|
Photos by Rich Garrett and Larry Naylor
Dolphin encounter trips to the Bahama Banks
The last five summers we have booked the Ocean Explorer
for week long trips, diving with pods of wild Spotted Dolphins
in open water some forty miles out to sea off Grand Bahama
Island. This has been as fantastic and exhilarating an experience
as I have had in my more than forty years of diving. The past
two years, encounters have been an average of four hours per
day long, and every week we've been able to get in the water
with the dolphins at night while they're hunting--an absolutely
spectacular experience.
Contrary to comon hearsay, dolphins do not avoid divers
on SCUBA, though they are more likely to spend a greater amount
of time with good freedivers who have the grace, mobility
and endurance to join in their dance.
Most of the published and broadcast dolphin shots you have
seen on gallery walls on television and in theaters have been
taken at our dive site on the Little Bahama Banks 40 miles
off Grand Bahama Island, where the wild dolphins have been
seeking out human contact for the past dozen years. These
images are taken at this same time of year when the weather
permits our boats to remain on the ocean surface (we will
visit a couple of boats that didn't on our wreck dives); and
without humans hanging over the rail of said boats the whole
week.
During one encounter, one of our passengers (That's her in
the pictures above--and this year she will also be our cook)
had a dolphin place a pectoral fin on her calf, and a second
dolphin place a pectoral fin on her opposite shoulder. They
swam like this for several minutes while the dolphins stroked
her gently with their fins. Come by the store and see some
of the photos of her with the dolphins taken by people on
the trips. You'll see why takeing her along works for everyone.
The dolphins have always made a special point of visiting
with each diver. They come as individuals, in pairs, and in
small or larger groups, frequently bringing babies with them.
They especially love kids, ladies and skin.
We will board the Ocean Explorer at Pompano Beach,
Florida for the Gulf Stream crossing to Grand Bahama Island
on July 17th and again on the 23rd, 2004, for 6 days diving
and swimming with the dolphins. Just imagine the photo and
video opportunities, not to mention the spiritual experience
of a lifetime. In order to keep the intimacy of these dolphin
contacts at a maximum, we have chosen a boat that accommodates
only eight divers; larger groups of people in the water tend
to overwhelm the dolphins, resulting in a breakoff of the
encounter.
The cost of the trip is $1800, and it goes without saying
that we will have all of the digital video cameras, still
film cameras (nikonos V with 15 mm included) and digital still
cameras, lenses, strobes, etc., etc.,--not to mention the
latest Oceanhaus video and still housings--for your use as
needed or wanted. Consider yourselves backed up--to the max.
If any of this sounds good to you, please email us at info@absea.net,
or call us at (310) 645-8992 for more information. If you
can't make it, let's hear how you're doing anyway. We like
to keep track of our serious photographers.
Good diving,
Alan and the crew
|
