In the water yesterday, my wife and I had already seen a small turtle, when this pod of Spinner Dolphins suddenly appeared in the somewhat hazy water. Often, dolphin pods travel fast, but are spread out, with mothers and calves bringing up the rear. This one was moving slower, but tightly bunched. I reckon there were at least 40 or 50 in the pod, and in a few minutes they had all gone by, heading south.
A dolphin encounter is always a highlight of any swim, but conditions were so nice, we carried on across the bay. When we turned to head back in, I saw two turtles, almost directly below me, swimming around in a tight circle. When one headed away, the other followed and the circling resumed. I don’t know what they were up to, but they were still doing this routine when we left them.
Graham's Island 
Wow, what a swim!
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It was wonderful, especially after a long spell of cold, wet weather and poor visibility in the water.
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Holy wow. That’s an amazing encounter!
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It was a lot of fun.
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That’s a great encounter Graham. Perhaps the Turtles were in “lets see what this sex thing is all about” mode
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It’s possible, but when these turtles are sexually active, they head to the French Frigate Shoals and breed there. They could have been practicing though!
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Youngsters having fun
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What a great experience, Graham.
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It’s been a few months since the last time, so it was a lovely surprise!
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It must have been amazing to see them swimming past you!
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They’re awesome to see swimming. I imagine them looking at us humans and thinking, ‘They’re so clumsy. How do they survive?’
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Yes, I can imagine them thinking that 😂
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Fabulous encounters!
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They were Jo.
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Great photos! It reminds me of when my infant daughter, homebirthed on Molokai, was about four months old. We went to Maui and jumped off a tour boat, into the water off Lahaina, to “swim with the dolphins”. Although I had Anna swimming in the water in a tidepool or near the shore nearly every day of her young life, the deep water was altogether another thing! I had on swim fins, and holding her above the very blue water, all I did was kick and kick with my fins, finally making it back to the boat.
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Yes, deep water can be a very different thing, especially with a young child. Someone swimming in these waters a few days earlier encountered a humpback whale, which I think would be awesome!
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Wahoo! So cool :))
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That would have been beautiful to watch.
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It’s always a treat to see dolphins or turtles, so this was a banner day.
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