Julia's Dolphin Etiquette

Hi All, Just like yesterday the wind is down early in the morning. We take advantage of the calm water and leave early. We find JoJo and Julia in the same place as the day before. Julia is way more interactive today. She surfaces right by me and blows a nice bubble. JoJo wants to visit various tour boats but then follows me as we go to catch up to Julia who isnt very interested in visiting but very interested in fishing. I thought because she was more interactive that I'd follow her as she was fishing if I could keep up. She found a school of fish over a small reef head and stayed there for awhile chasing various fish around. I watched from above knowing from past experience not to get in the way. Apparently, she didn't feel I should have been there at all or wanted to warn me that these were her fish! She slapped the water hard with her tail to get her point across!

Julia fishing etiquette from Jay Sargent on Vimeo.

JoJo never minds when I join him in dolphin games like bang the buoy or fishing. Just like people, dolphins are all different. A few years ago, I was watching Julia as she chased a bar jack into some branching coral. The bar jack darted over to me trying to find a safe place. He swam right between my arms and my scooter. Julia followed him to me and glared at me for disrupting her chances of getting a meal!

I got back in Spy Hop and we followed the dolphins as they made their way toward Grace Point. I was hoping for some clear water for good footage but they turned around and headed back toward Coral House where JoJo took a long nap. Dolphins rest 1/2 their brain while the other half stays awake watching for predators (tour boats!!) and monitoring their breathing. Dolphins are voluntary breathers and make a conscious decision each time they breath unlike us. We are involuntary breathers and dont have to think about it. At first he made slow circles around our boat then the circles got bigger and bigger.

JoJo in Sleep Mode from Jay Sargent on Vimeo.

At this point there was a nasty black cloud heading our way. We decided to go out Leeward Cut hoping to avoid the big rain cloud heading our way. Not To Be!! The massive squall engulfed us. The wind came up suddenly and it poured so you couldn't see the reef ,the boat that just passed us or anything! Very disorienting to say the least. The rain pelted down so hard it flattened the water. Luckily, most of these squalls don't last long. We found our way back in as the sky went back to a brilliant blue.