We had some setbacks today... and were reminded of some valuable
travel lessons!
We left the hotel at 6.15am to head out on a cruise to swim with
the dolphins - something I have wanted to do for as long as I remember. Even as
a really little girl I was in awe of dolphins so words can’t really describe my
excitement levels as we left the hotel and made the 90 minute drive to the
boat.
The view was stunning as we set out to find the dolphins. I would really love to post a photo for you but hotel wifi is telling me NO... I will post a picture blog when we get home.
There was a group of about 15 boats about 300m offshore. We saw them and thought we would just sail straight past them, but instead we joined the,. At this point we figured the drivers would just have a quick word to each other, perhaps trade a couple of tips and co-ordinate their movements so we weren't all in the same area, but it turned out they had spotted a dolphin and so we joined the chase too. Next thing we knew we had 16 boats (that's approximately 160 people) chasing this one lone dolphin, trying to corner it so it wouldn't escape.
I was disgusted and when our driver saw that I was visibly upset, he laughed in my face.
I tried to get in the water even though I didn't want to be near the dolphin as I didn't want to add to the problem, but I had been given faulty snorkelling gear. By the time it was fixed, the driver told me I was too slow and was no longer allowed to get in. ('Yelled at' is more appropriate than 'told', to be honest.)
Eventually the dolphin managed to escape and Logan and I cheered for him. The poor thing was probably already in a pickle because his pod were nowhere to be found, and here were 160+ humans with loud boats chasing him, jumping on him, yelling, splashing and trying to disorient him.
There was a group of about 15 boats about 300m offshore. We saw them and thought we would just sail straight past them, but instead we joined the,. At this point we figured the drivers would just have a quick word to each other, perhaps trade a couple of tips and co-ordinate their movements so we weren't all in the same area, but it turned out they had spotted a dolphin and so we joined the chase too. Next thing we knew we had 16 boats (that's approximately 160 people) chasing this one lone dolphin, trying to corner it so it wouldn't escape.
I was disgusted and when our driver saw that I was visibly upset, he laughed in my face.
I tried to get in the water even though I didn't want to be near the dolphin as I didn't want to add to the problem, but I had been given faulty snorkelling gear. By the time it was fixed, the driver told me I was too slow and was no longer allowed to get in. ('Yelled at' is more appropriate than 'told', to be honest.)
Eventually the dolphin managed to escape and Logan and I cheered for him. The poor thing was probably already in a pickle because his pod were nowhere to be found, and here were 160+ humans with loud boats chasing him, jumping on him, yelling, splashing and trying to disorient him.
So all in all we paid a very large amount of money to feel
disappointed, upset, belittled, exhausted and ripped off, not to mention how cruel we were to the dolphin.
Every cloud has a silver lining though… We made two lovely South
African friends. We will attempt the dolphin swim again but this time, with a
lot more research behind us. Lesson learnt!
Tomorrow we are sailing a catamaran to Ile aux Cerfs; hopefully we have better luck.
Tomorrow we are sailing a catamaran to Ile aux Cerfs; hopefully we have better luck.
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