For as long as I have been observing marine mammals I have rarely pursued swimming with them and, in fact, wasn't too sure if I agreed with it given the potential issues of humans interacting with wild marine mammals. Of course, the thought had crossed my mind because, really, who wouldn't want to be in the water with such majestic animals as whales or dolphins?
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| Tourist swimming with Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in Zanzibar, Tanzania, where dolphin tourism has not operated in the most sustainable way |
My first experience observing wild cetaceans was the result of a high school work experience program in the mid 90s. At the time I wanted to be a veterinarian but after spending a few weeks volunteering and observing at a local veterinary hospital I soon realised the surgeries and dentals and day to day activities of the vet hospital didn't appeal to me. I loved animals and wildlife and the ocean so, after completing my time at the vet hospital, I went to the Vancouver Aquarium where I observed the behind-the-scenes operations of the research and other activities at the aquarium. That wasn't my first time considering pursuing work with marine mammals or at an aquarium; when I was thirteen I called Sealand of The Pacific, the aquarium down the road from our house at the time (and where Tillikum, the whale from Blackfish, spent his early days), to ask about volunteering. It ended up I was too young and they told me to call back in a few years...which resulted in me never working in an aquarium setting. I now see that circumstance worked for the best for me, given the unfortunate turn of events at Sealand in the years following and the issues surrounding cetaceans in captivity.
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| Killer whale (Orcinus orca) in the incredibly small pool at Sea Land Of The Pacific, just down the road from where I grew up and where, when I was 13 years old, I considered volunteering...and now, thankfully, I am glad I was too young at the time! Source |
Learning about marine research appealed to me but having seen the animals in a captive situation I was curious about seeing their wild counterparts and, fortunately, my teacher organised for me to spend the last part of my work experience with a whale watching company, Seacoast Expeditions (eventually bought out by Orca Spirit Adventures). In the end, I think I got the best work experience of all the students in my program! My day consisted of me having the wind blowing through my hair and getting wind burn on fast zodiac rides throughout the straits around southern Vancouver Island and observing and learning about the wild killer whales and other marine life of the Pacific Northwest!
During that work experience my first observation of wild killer whales drew me to the field of marine mammal science. When K1, Taku, a male Resident 'fish eating' killer whale, and one of the first whales actually 'marked' when notches were cut into his dorsal fin for recognition in photo-identification studies, and more than 20 years after this initial 'marking' in 1973, swam directly at us within arms reach under the small, inflatable zodiac, it took my breath away! I was instantly hooked and that is when I decided to pursue a life of working with marine mammals :)
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| K1 Taku, male Resident fish eating killer whale who had notches cut into his fin so researchers could prove that photo-ID research can be used to identify whales over the long term. Photo credit and read more about Taku here and here. |
So, now that I have observed marine mammals in the wild for nearly two decades I had never experienced swimming with wild cetaceans until just 3 years ago when I filmed the behaviour of about 35 wild dolphins off the south coast of Unguja Island, Zanzibar, Tanzania as part of the research project I was working with as a voluntary research assistant. It was an amazing encounter and I have to admit that I felt much like I did the first time I saw Taku swim towards us and under the boat...a sense of awe and wonderment and the experience added a whole new dimension to cetacean viewing for me. Even while conducting photo-identification and behaviour research on the dolphins in Zanzibar (where there is regular and very poorly managed dolphin swimming tourism, despite the work of Dr. Per Berggren and his research teams) we only entered the water in a very few circumstances and only with the utmost respect for the animals, i.e. entering quietly and slowly and not chasing them and driving the vessel fast or unpredictably around them. As far as I was concerned tourism focussed on swimming with marine mammals should only occur in very strictly regulated situations, if at all. In fact, in Canada according to the Be Whale Wise Guidelines we should not swim with, touch or feed marine wildlife.
So, given my extended history of working around marine mammals in the context of not swimming with them I only decided to swim with the dolphins in New Zealand because I had heard that it was very regulated with very few operators and swimmers and they operated with respect for the animals; shortly after arriving in Kaikoura I was signed up to go on a tour and I have to admit I was excited!
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| The Dolphin Encounter vessel and crew who took us out for our wonderful dolphin excursion |
On the day of the tour I was very impressed with how Dolphin Encounter operated, which was like night and day compared to the dolphins swimming tourism I'd seen in other areas. They did a wonderful job of walking all of us through the procedures of the swim and what to expect...and they were very clear that we may or may not expect to have dolphins to swim with or that they might not even interact with us. I really liked that they made a point of giving guests realistic expectations and that giving the animals respect was an important part of the experience.
The encounter we had was amazing and I honestly did not feel at all like the operators were pushy around the animals and, in fact, the animals very actively engaged with us. In the end, I don't even know how long I was in the water with the animals but we had a very large group all around us almost as soon as we left the harbour. Myself and one guy were in the water to the very end and the dolphins only left when the two of us started to swim back to board the boat. It was an amazing day that I'll never forget and I truly feel that the animals were respected for the duration of the tour; a day I feel very blessed to have experienced!
Here are a multitude of photos of the estimated 400-500 dolphins we encountered while I was in the water and then afterwards from the vessel:
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