Last weekend, we spent the morning out on the ocean. We hired "una lancha" - a narrow motor boat and a guide, Ivan, to take us out on the water on a tour to look for dolphins, sea turtles, and maybe fish a little as well. We left shore about 7:30 am, and planned to return before 11 in order to avoid the heat of the day.
We made our way east along the coast, past the city of Puerto, and then took a right and headed straight out to sea. The water was rising and falling in long, lazy swells. It was calm. After about 45 minutes, Amy and I began to wonder if this was really the way to find dolphins. Small fish periodically would break the surface and shoot across the water. Turtles heads and shells would also appear and disappear among the swells. After probably an hour a half, Ivan and his colleague suddenly shouted "Delphines!"
Sure enough, about 1/2 mile away, we could see dolphins shooting into the air. Apparently they regularly gather up in the morning off the coast, sometimes in the hundreds, and swim together before breaking up into smaller groups to hunt. There are a number of varieties of dolphins that frequent these waters, but we only saw white-sided or white belly dolphins. There were at least a hundred - shooting under the boat, bursting out of the water just beyond the boat's bow or beyond its wake. They seemed curious, were fantastically fast and energetic.
At one point we jumped in the water (amid hundreds of tiny stinging jelly fish, I might add). Underwater, we could hear their faint whistles in the distance. Me and kids got out after a few minutes, and then Amy got out suddenly, at the urgent request of Ivan. They had spotted a highly venomous sea snake on the other side of the boat. Only 2-3 feet long, these snakes live all their lives out in the middle of the ocean. Their bite is very dangerous, and occasionally fatal.
Here a few photos and a little video from our trip...
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| Liesl, at the start of the trip. 7 am. |
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| Amy and some weird dude who kept following her around. |
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| Our guides Ivan and Ray. |
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| Ray jumped in the water and grabbed this turtle and he and Ivan hauled it aboard. They assured us that the turtle didn't mind. I am not so sure...After about 30 seconds, we pushed him back overboard. |
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| Here's shot of a dolphin leaping. |
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| Here are a few views from the boat. |
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| This is a photo of the type of dreaded Sea Snake that Amy almost wrestled. Occasionally they get washed up on shore. |
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| Amy and Liesl hard at work bringing dinner on board. |
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| Mahi-mahi. We took one, and Ivan and Ray took the rest. |
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