Sunday Stills challenge theme this week and last week is ‘Your 2024 Year-in-Review.’ See more responses here. As before, I’m going with a favorite photo from each month of 2024, with a caption and link to the post the photo first appeared in. Last week, I posted favorites from January through June (here). This week, it’s July through December.
I hadn’t been snorkeling for a couple of weeks, having been under the weather. So last week, I was happy to get back in the water, and even happier when a pod of Spinner Dolphins showed up.
I first became aware of them when two snuck up from behind and zipped by just a few feet away. This happened to me once before, not long after moving to Hawaii, and I nearly had a heart attack. These days, I’m more used to expecting the unexpected in the water.
A few went back and forth around me, and I thought they might stick around for a bit, but they continued on their way south, albeit at a less-hurried pace than they often maintain. But it’s always a treat to see them and I was happy that a few photos turned out OK. My last encounter with dolphins, a few weeks ago, resulted in zero usable photos. I think my camera was having some issues, at least that’s my excuse.
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 148. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
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.
Yesterday, when I went swimming, the swells rolling in were larger than expected, and the visibility in the water, worse than expected. Consequently, it wasn’t a banner swim until I popped my head out of the water and saw spinner dolphins heading my way.
I reckoned there were at least 60 or 70 dolphins in the pod, but I suspect there the number was closer to 100. I count more than 25 in the top photo and that was one group going by on one side. The traffic was continuous on both sides, and below, for several minutes.
The dolphins weren’t hanging around, but zipped by, heading for their daytime resting spot. Several minutes later, a much smaller group passed by, traveling at a more sedate speed. I’m not sure why that was. Sometimes it’s because they’re escorting calves, but I didn’t see any. Perhaps they were just tired and not inclined to get caught up in the rush of the main group.
Yesterday, I posted photos of a manta ray encounter (here), noting that, if fins are seen in the water, manta rays are one likely reason. After the post went live, I went for a swim. I didn’t see anything unusual and was heading back in when I turned and saw fins in the water. This time, they were clearly dolphin fins.
Sometimes, the dolphins zip by as if they’re late for an appointment, but these were proceeding in a very leisurely fashion, so I thought I’d swim back out a ways and see if any came to check my out. As I swam, I’d pop up to see what was going on. Quite a few dolphins went by in small groups, but I saw more were following.
Luckily, one of these groups was traveling closer to shore than the others and as I ducked my head underwater, I saw them approaching. The lead dolphin did veer in my direction, but carried on its way, followed by a trio that maintained impressive formation as they passed. The whole encounter lasted just a few minutes, but I was thrilled to see them and happy to get a few decent photos.
We have had a seemingly endless stream of swells rolling in from the west, west-northwest, northwest, and north. What they all have in common is that they make snorkeling miserable here. The water gets churned up, reducing visibility to near zero, and getting in and out can be an adventure.
A few days ago, there was a gap between the incoming swells, allowing the water to settle a little and visibility to improve. And, luckily, that was a day that a pod of Spinner Dolphins went by.
I had stopped swimming for a moment and popped my head up to look around when I saw fins arching through the water towards me. This pod of 20 or 30 dolphins was just passing through, but I was happy to snap a few photos, of which these were the best two.
The visibility still wasn’t great, but any dolphin encounter is a moment to be treasured.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Your 2022 Year-in-Review.’ See more responses here. Like last year, I’ve gone with a favorite photo from each month of 2021, with a caption and link to the post the photo first appeared in.
Graham's Island 