Swimming with Dolphins

Today, Rick and I drove down to Sorrento so we could go on a Polperro Dophin Swim~! I bought him a voucher last christmas and we hadn't had the chance to go down until today. It was a struggle to drop the kids at my sister's house and get to the pier by 8.00 but we *just* made it!

We boarded the boat and made our way out into Port Phillip Bay. It was a beautiful 35 deg day but with a lovely sea breeze so we weren't hot at all while on the boat. The first destination we arrived at didn't have any dolphins but we did see 3 great big fur seals casually playing in the water! They let the swim ropes out and everyone jumped in to get closer. They stopped the boat and everyone could swim over to the seals and float around them. It was great! Rick swam between them and they just carried on doing their thing. I couldn't believe how big they were!


I didn't swim today but instead opted to 'observe' on the deck of the boat so I could take video footage and photos. As it turned out, this was ideal as everyone in the water missed getting photos!


We then went to a new location where we found dolphins! It was amazing to see them in the wild! There were only 2 or 3 here but the swimmers still managed to get close to them and see them swimming below and alongside them. After about 10 minutes they moved on and so did we.


We went to another location and fortunately were inundated with a whole pod! That was simply breathtaking! All the tourists (mainly Dutch and a handful of Japanese) were all too busy watching them on the deck of the boat rather than actually getting in the water~! So the dive master kept yelling at them to get in the water but they wanted to get photos so Rick jumped in and was sooo lucky!

A dolphin came up to him and swam alongside him and had a look at him through his mask. He was within 2 feet of them and was so tempted to reach out and touch them but we were advised not to as it could frighten them away. Then a group of 3 came up and swam around him too!
Then of course everyone got in the water and they all got to enjoy the experience. This lastest for a good 30 minutes and seals joined in on the action too! It was a wonderful experience and to get that close to wild animals was amazing. People we know have been swimming with trained, domesticated dophins (at sea world etc) but is no comparison to actually swimming alongside a wild one!

Apparently we got lucky today. The dive master was telling us that this was one of the best dolphin finds they have had in a long time.


Rick loved his present and we were treated to hot chocolate and warm date scones (my fave~) on the trip back to the pier. We will definately be doing this again! Maybe next time we will take the girls when they are a bit older.