Isabela & Fernandina Islands
It was early in the morning when my cabin phone rang; it was not even six thirty, and the bridge officers called me to give me the news of a large pod of common dolphins being sighted a mile away. I ran to the bridge; it is not as if I haven’t seen them before, but every time I do I feel even more alive!
The pod was indeed large, about three hundred of “eager to please” common dolphins performing acrobatic pirouettes in the air. The fresh, gentle breeze awakened me to a full day of new experiences at the western site of Isabela Island, Galápagos.
There are very few places in the world where your first sight out of your window is a pod of dolphins jumping. We all had a blast, and for the first time in my whole fourteen years in the Galápagos I had the chance to witness common dolphins riding the bow of the ship. I have traveled quite extensively to know that this is not rare in other areas in the world, but for some estrange reason that unfortunately I can only attribute to bad human practices during whaling times, the common dolphins populations in the South Pacific had never trusted us too much. Our encounters with them had been always maintaining a “secure space” between the ship and the pod, and these have been entirely the dolphins’ decision. Today I was full of joy seeing one “scout” dolphin pirouetting at the bow of the ship, and I frankly could not believe what my eyes were seeing!
After a long while he left but returned shortly after with a “friend” which led me to believe that it was some kind of test, as to see what our reaction would be. We were of course delighted, and I couldn’t stop thinking that we were witnessing the beginning of a much trustful relationship between us and the colorful common dolphins!
It was early in the morning when my cabin phone rang; it was not even six thirty, and the bridge officers called me to give me the news of a large pod of common dolphins being sighted a mile away. I ran to the bridge; it is not as if I haven’t seen them before, but every time I do I feel even more alive!
The pod was indeed large, about three hundred of “eager to please” common dolphins performing acrobatic pirouettes in the air. The fresh, gentle breeze awakened me to a full day of new experiences at the western site of Isabela Island, Galápagos.
There are very few places in the world where your first sight out of your window is a pod of dolphins jumping. We all had a blast, and for the first time in my whole fourteen years in the Galápagos I had the chance to witness common dolphins riding the bow of the ship. I have traveled quite extensively to know that this is not rare in other areas in the world, but for some estrange reason that unfortunately I can only attribute to bad human practices during whaling times, the common dolphins populations in the South Pacific had never trusted us too much. Our encounters with them had been always maintaining a “secure space” between the ship and the pod, and these have been entirely the dolphins’ decision. Today I was full of joy seeing one “scout” dolphin pirouetting at the bow of the ship, and I frankly could not believe what my eyes were seeing!
After a long while he left but returned shortly after with a “friend” which led me to believe that it was some kind of test, as to see what our reaction would be. We were of course delighted, and I couldn’t stop thinking that we were witnessing the beginning of a much trustful relationship between us and the colorful common dolphins!
