Off the Big Island of Hawaii, Jonathan cavorts with a pod of playful Spinner dolphins and learns how they hunt at night and sleep during the day by shutting off half their brains at a time!
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Dolphins are among the ocean’s most exhilarating animals--excitable, playful ambassadors of the sea. Whenever a pod of dolphins appears, I always stop what I’m doing and see if they want to play.
Dolphin encounters aren’t always easy to plan, but there are places in the world where dolphins are regularly seen and this is one of those places. The Big Island of Hawaii.
Surrounded by the warm Pacific Ocean, the Big Island is an amazing place full of breathtaking views, exotic animals, and volcanic activity.
But I’ve come to meet a pod of dolphins.
It’s 8 AM and Big Island Divers is putting one of their boats in the water at the marina. Cameraman Todd and I grab our gear and head to the boat, where we meet captain Mike.
Soon we’re half a mile offshore, cruising in search of dolphins.
Ryan Leinbach (or as we call her, the Dolphin Whisperer) is telling us about the Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins we are hopefully going to meet.
Hawaiian Spinner dolphins live here in the Hawaiian Islands, and at nighttime they go offshore to hunt and feed in the scattering layer. So they feed on squid, oppellue (?) that kind of stuff, and then as the sun rises in the morning, the dolphins come back to the shoreline to rest and to socialize along our Hawaiian shorelines. What we are probably going to find today is they are either going to be traveling from point A to point B, or they’re going to be in a “rest estuary.”
So we’re cruising just offshore looking for Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins. And since they tend to rest during the day, they are moving slowly. But they may not be very playful.
Soon we spot the dorsal fins of dolphins and we circle closer to see what they’re up to.
The dolphins look pretty active, so now is my chance to suit up and see how close I can get.
They make a fairly close pass to have a look at us, but then they turn and swim away, back into the blue. I swim along behind them for a few minutes, but eventually they give me the slip.
But that’s OK, if there’s one thing I have learned about interacting with dolphins over the years, is that you need to be patient.
We pull the ladder and head off to find a more cooperative pod.
Captain Mike has found another pod. Behind the boat, they are doing what spinners are known for! Spinning!
So, we slow down and get ready to try again.
Once again I drop into the water with my camera and fin my way over towards the dolphins.
Soon, Todd and I are in the middle of a big pod of Spinners.
I do my best dolphin impersonation, free-diving down to them as they pass below. But they make my breath-holding skills look pathetic.
This group is going slowly because they are actually resting. They hunt at night in deep water, so during the day, they rest.
Dolphins don’t rest the way we do. If they fall asleep, they will drown.
When a dolphin sleeps, it shuts down half of its brain, while the other half stays awake, controlling a slow swim and periodic breathing. After a while, the dolphin swaps sides, letting the other half of its brain sleep.
The result is a slow-swimming animal that appears fully awake…but not really.
Spinner dolphins are not particularly large. They grow to about the same size and weight as an adult human. But they don’t live as long. Estimates are that they only live to be 20 or so years old.