WooooooHooooo!

Wow! What a day yesterday. 3rd trip out searching for whale sharks. 3rd time lucky? That is what I was hoping for!

So of we go, nice group of people on the boat, heading towards the cayes off the southwest of the island first as this where sharks had been seen all week. I spot the first boil thanks to my trusty binoculars and a good bit of luck! Boils are what they call baitballs here. You may have seen them on wildlife programs on the tv, where small fish gather together in tight fast-moving masses. When they hit the surface or larger fish start to attack them they and the predators break the surface causing it to look like its boiling! You can actually hear it! Anyway, these are where the whale sharks come to feed.

So there we are at the first boil, it's not very big, but we get ready, sitting at the back of the boat, mask and fins on ready to slip into the water if teh captain gives the go-ahead. But nothing. No sightings of sharks, nothing but birds and fish. After a while we give up and try in another direction. Nothing there. So we head back to the first boil to see if it is still going and maybe if it has lured in a shark. Nope! I'm starting to feel a little flat now. Three trips and so far no luck, although it was exciting to see the boils it was more about the promise of what they might bring. Of we go again, moving eastwards along the north coast of the island. We spot dolphins but the soon disappear.

Then just when I have given up the trip as a lost cause I see a tern flying in the distance. I grab the binoculars again and follow it (hard to do in a boat that is rocking making the horizon zoom up and down!) sure enough I see it dive into the see. I point it out to the captain and he sees fish jumping! Yay! Another boil and this time a big one! Excitement ripples throughout the boat, it looks like this time we are going to get lucky. Back to the end of the boat, waiting waiting...can't see the boil, can't see anything as mask fogging up by now. Suddenly shouts of Shark! and...Go! Go! Swim to the front of the boat! There was a couple in front of me and a lady beside me. I dip my fins in trying not to splash and I'm in the water, finning as hard as possible whilst trying not to splash is damn hard! Unfortunately all I could see was the lady in front who was kicking up a storm of bubbles. I catch up with the couple who hug me saying Wasn't that amazing! I have to confess that I saw nothing! Apparently there was a manta ray too. Another animal near the top of my must-see list. I was devastated. Even though they only saw the shark very briefly before it dived, clearly not wanting company. I wasn't the only one who didn't see it. Two more people in the group that got in the water didn't see it. The second group who were waiting on the boat for their turn did see it at the surface. I almost wish I had stayed on the boat. The deep blue water was incredible though and what an adrenalin rush. My fins, I am discovering, might be fantastic for scuba but are not helpful when trying to snorkel silently!

I get back on the boat, trying not to feel resentful of the lady and all her bubble-kicking that had so obscured my view, especially when she starts giving me tips on what to do next time! Of we go again, I'm back to thinking that is the end of our adventure that day. How wrong I was. As we were coming round the east side of the island Captain Willy shouts Dolphins! And sure enough there are bottle-nosed dolphins all over the place. We watch them from the boat for about 5 minutes before we are asked if we want to try swimming with them. Are they kidding?! I was ready at the end of the boat before they had even finished asking. I didn't take my camera as I thought that might jinx my luck! Then we were in the water and I see dolphins swimming past me in every direction. We follow them and oh wow it was so amazing I can hardly believe it happened. First there were a lot of them, then it went down to one or two, but these two wanted to play with us! Now these are not some semi-tame Florida dolphins that are accustomed to daily human encounters, this isn't Flipper we are talking about here. These were truly wild dolphins, and they wanted to hang out with us! They kept checking each person out, swimming so close, within feet of us. If someone did a skin dive, or flipped upside down, so did the dolphins. I never wanted it to end! I'm not sure how long the encounter lasted, it might have been minutes although it was more like 5 to 10 minutes. The speed of the dolphins was incredible. No one managed to get pictures and what a shame it would have been to have spent all my time trying to get a picture instead of experiencing it. Something I have learnt from going to gigs!

Eventually our playmates left us and disappeared off into the blue. Back on the boat, everyone was so elated, high-fiving. I couldn't stop punching the air! I believe I even declared deepest love to the captain! I may have missed the whale shark, but the dolphins will live with me forever. I keep seeing them flashing just inches past my face, and I don't even need to close my eyes!

I had a great chat with Dr Rob too. I am hoping to help him out with a few things before I leave. And I have to give him my CV as there is a possibility that there may be some jobs there in the near future. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much though as you never know.

But still, what an awesome awesome day! I'm going out with them again tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed for a whale shark this time! Preferably one who feels like hanging out at the surface for a bit!

Hasta la proxima, until next time....