Bimini

I got home yesterday from Bimini Island, in The Bahamas. About 20 minutes by air from Ft. Lauderdale, Bimini is a friendly, laid-back island with an economy based on tourism around ocean activities: fishing, diving, etc. I was there to swim with wild dolphins with an outfit called WildQuest.

Their YouTube video.

No description can come close to conveying the experience, or explain the feeling of it. I have no idea why it should be so emotional. But being in the water with these intelligent animals, with them swimming all around you, often just inches away without ever touching you, swimming over you, under you, around you, is a breathtaking experience.

The operators take pictures, but unfortunately, they never got a picture of me when the dolphins were just inches away from me and all around me, as happened numerous times, essentially including me, momentarily, in their swirling dance. But here are a few: In the first picture, I am the one holding my nose as I equalized the pressure on my way down.

 

P.S. WildQuest does not feed the dolphins or interfere with them in any way. These are absolutely wild animals that come to the boat of their own accord, simply because they seem to enjoy swimming with the boat, and with us when we get in the water. Sometimes they stick around when we get in, and sometimes they swim away. It's their choice. They are not trained or domesticated. They are just friendly and playful. Dolphins just seem to like people.

Around Bimini there are two species of dolphins: Bottlenose and Spotted. The bottlenose seldom pay us much attention, though on one occasion they did swim close to us. The spotted dolphins are the ones that most often play with us.

In other parts of the world there are other species, and there are places you can swim with them. I know nothing about which other species like to interact with humans. The big advantage of Bimini is that it's close to the U.S., and the water is warm and clear.

 

Middle June is still too early for hiking in the Selkirks of B.C., and I didn't want to wait until September to go back to Bimini. This was when I could fit it into my schedule.

Edit: Also, the water temperature is cooler in winter. I like it best when the ocean is bathwater-warm.

We sort of assume they are doing just that.

 

Actually, we slide in gently from the transom. The operators seem to think that jumping or diving in might scare the dolphins away, and they ask us to try not to splash. Jumping and diving in off the side of the boat is a leisure time activity for when we cannot find dolphins. I have a hard time jumping in off the deck of the boat, due to my fear of even small heights, but I do it when I must. Generally, once a week, there is the opportunity to jump in and swim to shore, then walk across the narrow spit of the island, arriving home 45 minutes before the boat, which must sail the long way around. When this happens, the boat does not stop, so sliding off the transom is not an option. I face my fear and jump. It's worth it to get in 45 minutes earlier. Also, sometimes they stop the boat out in the ocean and people jump or dive off the deck. I'm scared, but it's also fun. The things that scare us most often are not actually dangerous. Like sky diving. Or jumping the 4 or 5 feet into the water.

 

The most dangerous part of sky diving is driving to the airport.

... That said, when I considered the pilot of the small plane, who appeared to be about 19 years old and not especially responsible-looking, taking me up higher and higher in a wide spiral, and the parachutist told me that I could change my mind and land in the plane, it seemed to me that it would be safer to jump out than to trust the pilot to land safely.

Curiously, once we were free of the plane, and in free-fall at 200 km/hr, and contrary to my expectations the ground did not appear to be approaching at a discernible rate, all my fear disappeared, and I could thoroughly enjoy the experience of (as it seemed) just hanging there in the sky, looking out over the wide expanse of land and sea below me. We only had 45 seconds of free-fall, but it seemed like several minutes. It was the most frightening thing I have ever done, but also the most exhilarating. Highly recommended!

And definitely safer than driving on the freeway!