This is a journal entry of Avery's that is about swimming with dolphins.
Nov.24,2012
Sandy's house in Hawaii
Sunny and cloudy
Yesterday we went swimming with dolphins with a lady who is a friend of a friend of my parents. Her name is Jan and she's really cool. She is a dolphin whisperer and an artist.
First on the trip we drove up to the harbor in Kona were we met the captain of the boat we were going out on, the captains name was Kit. Then we put the boat in the water because it was on a trailer. Then we headed out. Well to swim with dolphins you have to find the pod so for about a half hour we went up the cost looking for them. While we were looking for them Jan told us all about the dolphins we were going to swim with. The dolphins we were going to swimming with were spinner dolphin. They have a long snout that is made for spinning when it jumps. They can spin up to 3 times before hitting the water. The baby's can start jumping 2 days after birth.
Something else we learned is that there are five groups of spinner dolphins in the Hawaiian islands. The 1 group that belonged to the big island was the one we were going to swim with. Each group had different DNA but in one group every single dolphin has the same DNA. Theses groups are split into pods each pod had about 600-800 dolphins. Recently thou the scientist have noticed that some young spinner dolphins have white spots on the tip of there nose, and instead of spinning when they they jump there jumping hirer then the rest of there group, and there not spinning but when they jump they look like there hovering in mid air. These dolphins still had long noses and other traits of the spinner dolphins. This dose not make sense since all the dolphins in a group have the same DNA. Then science realized that they are mating with the spotted nosed dolphins, and now there seeing traits of the spinner dolphins in the groups of spotted nosed dolphins.
Spinners become old enough to mate when there 6 years old and they live about 35 year. Those are the facts I can remember about the spinner dolphins but I did learn that the parrot fish eat corral and poop out sand. That is were some of the sand on the beaches comes from. After learning all about the dolphins we found the pod they were moving in the direction we came from. After we found the pod they went all around us they were going really fast. We went up to the front of the pod and our caption dropped us of in the water. When we were in the water we saw the dolphins under us and around us. Since they were moving forward in the direction we came from they all past us. We got back on the boat and the caption brought us up to the front of the pod again. We did this 4-5 times then ate lunch on the boat me my brother and a lady who was out there dolphin swimming ate slower then the rest and every one else went in the water. Well when we were ready to get in the water it was time to head back so we did not go in the water agin.
IT WAS REALLY COOL!!!!!
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| Jan the dolphin whisperer |
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| Searching for the pod |
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| Dolphins swimming under and around the boat |
2 comments:
I have two short stories about swimming with wild spinner dolphins on the Big Island near the Captain Cook monument. The first story dates back to March 2009 when I learned (over the phone) that my dad had cancer. At that time, I was in Hawaii with your homeschool coordinator Missy and my other Chugach School District buddies. Even though I was weighed down with sadness about my dad's health, the experience of swimming with the wild spinner dolphins was joyful, amazing and inspiring. I wanted to swim with my dad and the dolphins before he died...and my wish came true in March, 2011. I was crying and laughing at the same time while Dad and I swam with the dolphins on the Big Island. Definitely a highlight in my life so far. Thank you for all of your work on this blog. One last thing...I don't think that you can trust the "Aaron Grey" post because I got the exact same post on the blog that I am working on for school. I will try to respond to more of your blog articles. Take care!
Fun to catch up on what you are doing. Sounds pretty great. when do you go to Tahiti? maybe you are still there? We are about to go see Frances in Dominica. Then I'll see Maggie for 36 hours on her way to college. Starting to think about camp kissafishee. New outboard for the raider has been purchased, web ordered. A bit of a paperwork battle over that site and the board of fish meetings are coming up.
We have had yucky rain in Homer and then snow and then rain! Tom got snowshoes for Christmas.
The EVA is sad under her plastic tent. she wants to go in the water. Kally is fat and dreaming about ground squirrels. Bulo got a puppy. I sent him some puppy chew toys. Chou and keep up the good work on the blog. I'll make sure to share it with tom when he gets home from work. Love, Capt Cate
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