New Friends

by Nicole
At anchor, George Town, Bahamas 


I made some great new friends in George Town, Great Exuma, who love to swim. They would come over to our boat and swim around next to it until I jumped in to play with them. They were three very friendly dolphins, two adults and a calf!

These are the first dolphins we have seen so far since crossing over to the Bahamas. The first time these dolphins came near the boat, I jumped in but didn’t swim next to them because we weren’t sure if they were friendly or not. The next day, they came back again. At first, they swam away from me, but they came nearer to me eventually. Later that day, they came back again and started swimming around and playing with me.

It was amazing. I saw the calf feed off its mother and saw one stick its nose in the ground to eat a crab. I would play chase with them, swimming alongside them. One of the adult dolphins seemed to get really happy when I did this and would surface and splash me with her tail. The calf would also get very happy when I did it and would zoom around me. If I was too far away from the boat and swam back, they would come with me.

Sometimes my family joined me, but I mostly swam with them alone. One day they came to visit four different
times!  When I was swimming with the dolphins I felt a strong sense of companionship with them. It was a really neat experience, and I miss them a lot!

Here's a video of us playing with the dolphins:

And some pictures: