Thursday, February 14, 2013

New Calf Encounter

Hi All,
The weather is finally calming down after a front passed through. We cruise around Grace Bay most of the morning after John went back to the marina to once again deal with the cooling valve. On our way up to Pine Cay, we heard there were dolphins from the captain of a Big Blue boat. We spot a single dorsal and find JoJo who gives us a quick swim-by. He then disappears and we can't find him again.
We head back in the direction we think he was going to see if he wants a ride but can't find him. Once we get to a wreck, which is half way down Pine Cay, I see a dorsal and think we found him. Instead its  a mom and calf! They stay fairly close to the boat, so I get in. They circle me but stay far enough away, so I couldn't really figure out if I knew them. I get back in the boat because and a third dorsal appears!! JoJo has caught up! He comes over to Catch Ride as I get in and brings me right over to them. Now, they will let me swim very near. The calf comes right up.  I don't know him, but he's just like Lemon Lips swimming all around, circling again and again. This calf has some bumps on his head and long, thin pecs. He also has a very upturned "smile".  John said at one point, JoJo and Mom had gotten pretty far away while the calf and I were busy playing and circling.  JoJo came back to see what was going on or maybe tell us to get moving!!
There were times it was so murky I couldn't see anything and they even circled back to get me! I would try to stay inches from JoJo so I could follow but if he dove down at all I would lose sight of him. John and Kristen, my daughter would yell and point to tell me where they were. We had three great hours of playing before they started to swim in formation and speed up.
JoJo wasn't giving me the cold shoulder when we saw him alone he was on a mission to find these two (phew). If it wasn't for him, I would never be able to get so close or  to play with this calf for so long.
If that wasn't cool enough, we headed out to snorkle at the reef and I saw a spout way, then a tail. We motored around trying to find the whale.  We eventually gave up and headed towards another snorkel spot. As we motored away, I saw another spout. We went back out again.  Every time we thought we'd head in, we'd see another spout or whale! We finally had to leave as we had dinner reservations and the sun was setting!!

No comments:

Post a Comment