Dolphin Tour in Costa
Rica
Vida Marina
Foundation was formed to research and protect the dolphins, whales and
other
marine life in Drake Bay, on the Osa
Peninsula - lower Pacific side of Costa Rica. It is their goal to create a marine sanctuary in
Costa Rica. To help their daily
research, they offer Dolphin and
Whale
tours for tourists in small boats. These small boats don't seem to
upset the
ocean inhabitants. From them, lots of information is obtained,
documented and studied to help ensure the precious sea life remains
strong.
Our tour was Feb. 14th,
2004.
A
Valentine's
Day that made one of my long long dreams come true! To see and swim
with WILD
Dolphins in their natural home!
We set out at 8 am,
it started raining, the skies were dark and funnel clouds were spotted
coming off the water far off to the left. Luckily not the way we were
heading. Word from another Delfin
Amor boat ahead was that the weather was much better where they were.
So we headed about 25-30 miles from shore.
On the way,
we saw an Olive
Ridley Sea Turtle floating along.
Plus quite a few Brown Booby birds
flying around and diving in the water for fish.
A few Dolphins were spotted
here and there. Then, almost magically we were viewing hundreds of Spinner Dolphins!
We couldn't believe how many
there were. What an incredible sight! Tails and dorsal fins
everywhere. I guess for every dolphin you see on the surface they are
10 below it!
Sometimes they'd swim real
fast. They can go 60 miles an hour.
Other times they'd move a lot slower, swimming under our boat and all
around us. These
Long -snouted Spinner Dolphins are there own variety, known as the
Costa Rican form. They are 4 1/2 to 7 feet long.
They are distinguished by their long slender beak, the erect dorsal fin
and their high spinning leaps! We were treated to a real show...
These photos show why these are called Spinner Dolphins! They can
breach about 9 feet in the air. Then twist their body into sinuous
curves or spins on their longitudinal axis up to 7 times in a single
leap!
We encountered this large pod about an hour before lunch. Our
boat followed
them, and they followed us, they enjoyed this game of "tag".
Since the Delfin Amor boats have been doing this for several years the
Dolphins are accustomed to the sound of their boats. They know Delfin
Amor is not a threat.
Our boat stopped for lunch, the Dolphins continued to circle us, what a
thrill! After lunch we jumped in the water to have a swim with
them. They weren't too close to us, so we got back in the boat
and were told about buoy rides! This is where you hang on to a buoy
while
the boat pulls you along. Since the Dolphins are always moving this is
the best way to swim with them! Wearing a snorkel mask, you
can see Dolphins swimming infront and under the boat.
You can hear them too. Its truly an amazing experience!
Here's Mark enjoying his buoy ride.
You
have to hang on real tight as the boat is moving pretty fast. You
don't want to let go, as you could get pulled into the boats propeller!
I had 2 buoy rides,
but no pics of me in action.
Mark said he was to concerned about me letting go of the buoy, to take
pics of me. I'm not injured or dead, so I obviously get didn't
let go.
Here's a good
photo of a Spinners blow hole. Plus 2 more Dolphins beneath the
surface.
The white bit
on the bottom left corner is the boat, showing how close
they were getting to our boat. They really were having fun with
us!
When
Mark and I were both in the water we saw a Manta Ray! It was
enormous, it swam right infront of us. Mark had our underwater camera
ready and got this amazing photo of it! There's
some sort of sucker fish stuck to it.
Manta Rays
are 6 meters wide!
It
was exhilarating to be with Dolphins in their natural habitat. Watching
how
much fun they have spinning kept us all cheering. They are beautiful
free spirits.
Its heart breaking
to hear how many are killed and injured yearly by
man's fishing nets.
The Dolphins were with us
for almost 4 hours!
It was our boat that
actually had to leave them! Here's Mark saying bye!
It gets dark early in Costa
Rica, so we needed to get back to the
Lodge. Our ride back was about an hour and a half, so we were on land
shortly after 4 pm. This is a day we will never forget!
Notes on our tour: We did not take sea
sickness medication, but I did take 2 Advils just incase. Not being the
best swimmer I wore a life jacket provided on the boat and felt very
safe. There is a ladder to climb back in the boat. Our boat was
small, but had a hard roof for relief from the sun. There were 11
people on our boat, including the 3 Delfin Amor staff. 2 of which
were usually up top. The other being the driver. This meant we
had lots of room to move from side to side to see the action. We had
snacks of prepackaged cookies and bags of nacho chips. Fruit
juice and water. Lunch was provided, ours was individual containers of
brushetta to put on pieces of thick toasted bread, boiled eggs, and
lots of fresh local fruit cut up, nothing beats fresh mango!
Obviously we
thoroughly enjoyed our experience. We know every trip out is
unique and being wild mammals you never know what you'll see, we feel very fortunate we
got to see SO many Spinner Dolphins. Whales were not seen on our trip,
but
some were seen on a previous tour, 2 days before our trip, but they
didn't see the Spinners, so it all varies!
Tours to see the Dolphins
and Whales operate daily, however as of Feb. 28, 2006 it is Illegal to swim with Dolphins in Costa Rica
More info. on this new law
and the Eco-Lodge Delfin Amor / Divine Dolphin
and their Marine Education Center - Vida Marina Foundation
Our Dolphin encounter was with wild
FREE Dolphins! Please educate yourself on captive Dolphin swims
- Dolphins living in a small tank for human amusement. They
are not the best environment for the Dolphins. Many die way
before their time. Dolphin
Project
Humane Society Report on
captive Dolphins
ABC's
Primetime TV story on captive dolphins Oct. 2005
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