Dancing with Dolphins

Jim Abernethy opened the cabin hatch and hollered "two dolphins and a Tiger under the boat, let's go". It was 6 AM on the second day of our week long adventure aboard the Shear Water. Stumbling up on deck the action is pretty intense as the nine underwater photographers aboard hurry to get the gear and cameras ready. Everyone's excited when we see the small pod playing off the stern, seemingly waiting for us to join them. Wait a minute ....., did he say tiger shark? We learned during our extended briefing on the crossing that the first rule of diving with tigers is never stay on the surface, the surface is not your friend. Jim showed us a video (taken on another boat) of a fourteen foot tiger mouthing a snorkeler just to make sure we got the point. I'm completely new to diving with tiger sharks so I was paying very close attention. I notice that Jim is guiding the boat a few hundred yards away maybe hoping the tiger wouldn't follow? With the first group stacked up on the swim step Jim gives the signal, "Go, Go, Go," and the guys go as one to try and get the dolphin shots we all came for. The dolphins, in a rare playful mood join us but a quick look below shows the tiger has followed us. We shouldn't have been worried, the dolphins gang up on the tiger shark and run him off so we can play. We spent the next three hours swimming and shooting the group. This is going to be an interesting week.

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He says he's of Cuban heritage but I think he has Atlantian genes. I'm convinced that our Wetpixel friend Laz ( Lazaro Ruda) is the most important ingredient to a successful trip to capture wild dolphin images. A dolphin trip is very different from the normal dive trips we're used to. Instead of doing 4 or 5 dives a day we are jumping off the stern swim step 40 or 50 times. The first thing you learn about these encounters is that it is completely up to the dolphins. No skipper, no matter how experienced can put snorkelers in the water consistently to swim with the dolphins. Especially when they are hauling DSLR housings around with them. If the dolphins aren't interested in the slow ungainly humans it's adios baby. At best, if your lucky, you'll get a snap shot of the flyby and a nice shot of a dolphins tail. This is where Laz comes in. He is the only man I have ever seen who can keep up with the dolphins in their element. As Laz dives down twisting and turning the dolphins quickly recognize a kindred spirit and circle back to play with him. Now the rest of us have a chance to make the images we came for while Laz swims along side them touching and whispering to them. Without Laz along it would have been a very, very long week.

[/size]The man who talks to dolphins;

Berkley White, the owner of Backscatter who put this trip together brought along another secret weapon for the dolphins. Once Laz had the pod's attention Berkley dropped in with the dolphin cam, a DiveX scooter with a Canon 5D MkII in the slick new Aquatica housing in a rotating mount on the nose. Boy did the dolphins love to play with Berkley and the scooter!

As the week flew by we kept at it, sitting on the stern ready just in case as Jim and Brian did the hard part. They must have covered hundreds of miles circling the Bahamian waters getting us dolphins to shoot. Three days of circling and running across the crystal blue banks waiting for the dolphins to find us. Getting us in the water at just the right time, waiting while we were having all the fun, then picking us up scattered all over the ocean. Then doing it all again, over and over for hours. Huge kudos to Jim Abernethy and his crew. I don't know of another operation who would even attempt what the Shear Water crew did for us, much less pull it off and make it look easy.

The Shear Water through a dolphin's eyes;

I'm making these notes in my journal as the American flight back to my world takes off from West Palm and flies North along the Florida coast. Shoehorned into 6F I can just barely glimpse the Bahamas 60 miles to the east of the megalopolis below me. It is enormously comforting to me that I now know there is a very special place just over that horizon. An entrancing place where that special tropical light dances over the white sand under crystal blue water for hundreds of square miles. It warms my soul to know that in that place the dolphins are doing what dolphins do, playing and jumping and dancing.

May it always be so.

Cheers,

Steve

(next time "My first Tiger")

Great shots, really love dolphins. Keep the photos and info coming (and Berkley's rig is really something ).

I really need to go on one of those trips at some point....Jealous of you Steve

hey Steve, beautiful report , can't wait to hear more from you and see more photos. The 2nd last photo is my favorite

Scott

Hey Steve,

Great report and great pics from what sounds like a great trip! Can't wait to get on the Shear Water again...

Phil

Fabulous report, great photos. You must be beaming.

Cheers,

Marli

Thanks folks,

I hope some of the other guys who were on the trip will jump in.

Steve

Nice one Steve. A trip report like yours is what the Wetpixel community is all about; sharing, including and involving... Great stuff.

Fantastic write-up, Steve! (your dolphin images are great!)

It's important to note, however, that the footage of the tiger mouthing the snorkeler was not taken on Jim's boat. I do believe he would physically restrain anyone who tried to snorkel with tigers below!

It's important to note, however, that the footage of the tiger mouthing the snorkeler was not taken on Jim's boat. I do believe he would physically restrain anyone who tried to snorkel with tigers below!

Thanks Eric, great point! "Physically restrain" is putting it mildly.

Thanks Tim

Steve

Great shot!!!

Regards

Jean.

Nice job Steve! I've got some work to do to catch up with you.

Mike

GReat photos as usual, You now have this on my must do list

Thanks Jean, sometimes it all works like you see it.

Hey Mike, put a couple up when you get a chance.

Victor, you need to do this trip. I can't gaurantee you'll have perfect weather or a super group on the boat like we did, but I'll bet you Jim will do everything possible to put you in position to get the images. Move it to the top of the list partner.

Cheers,

Steve

great report and pics. Hope to see more. Sounds like a great trip. We got to dive with dolphins twice in Bimini a few years back.

Diving with the Dolphins

Beautiful shots, and great report, Steve!

I've never worked so hard as the day we swam with dolphins on Shearwater a few years back (on a Wetpixel trip). Jim says "Go Go GO!" and everybody piles off the back deck (in snorkel gear), and then you swim as hard as you can to try to keep up with - and do antics to keep the interest of - the dolphins, who are always on the move (I refer to them as a "traveling circus"). So my advice to anyone going is GET IN SHAPE before the trip because you swim HARD when you're doing dolphins. We didn't have any stop and spend time (more than a minute or two) with us, and the interaction is all on their terms... a great experience, though!

That trip is now on my short list.

Great report Steve and good advice Bruce.

I'm leading a Wetpixel sharks and dolphins trip in a few weeks and I've been training in the pool as often as I can to try to get in shape. It's not easy with an 11-month baby though - he just can't keep up! ;-)

Cheers

James

Thanks all,

You'll have great time James. We left a ton of superb images out there. There are two shools of thought as to shooting technique with the dolphins. Some folks swear by the "machine gun" approach. Put the camera on high speed continous, shutter priority and hold the shutter down when the dolphins make a pass. I had no absolutely no luck when I tried this approach. I just couldn't get an image I liked if I wasn't looking through the viewfinder. I'd be curious to see how you guys make out.

One other dolphin secret, I wore a "dolphin lure" head covering. I tried three different colors scuba do rags http://www.scubadorag.com/cart/index.php?m...x&cPath=1_2

Phycho woody was their favorite color. Everytime one saw me they had to come over and see what the heck I had on my head.

Cheers,

Steve

Stunning photos, Steve! They certainly take me back to those magical moments. I am glad to know you enjoyed yourself and were able to produce these lovely images. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Thank you for the kind compliments. I am glad to know that what you described as my conversations with dolphins, which in reality was just the dolphins saving me numerous times from drowning from salt water inhalation, provided the means for you to get your lovely images.

In all its truth, to swim alongside these magical creatures and look eye-to-eye is an experience unlike any other. No connection with nature is greater to me. Whether it's watching a frolicking young dolphin who is not much different than a small human child at play, or bonding with an older dolphin who instills in me the presence of an old wise man, there is no question that there is "someone inside" in these wild dolphins.