Bottlenose Dolphins Sailboats

Sailboats and dolphins

Many years ago, I took a sailing course at Old Dominion University in order to use their sailboats. I used to own my own but buying one and finding a place to keep was not something I wanted to do at the time. Off I went and took the class since it was stated you could use the boats if you took the class.

One stipulation they added is I had to have a second person. It took a lot of effort to find others to sail but finally found a person in the sorority I had joined for returning students over 25. She packed lunch. What a lunch!

We arrived at the ODU sailing  center about the same time and but the attendant was not there. We waited and waited. When they finally showed up we got the boat and put up the sails with some complications because I had to remember all the steps on my own since the other woman was a non sailor.

As we were out in the Elizabeth river we became surrounded by Dolphins.

Photo by Rallyroo from flickr

They were everywhere.

Front.

Back.

Sides.

We were the only sailboat on the Elizabeth River in that area.

We were surrounded on all sides out to about 50 to 100 feet from the boat. They were close enough to the boat you could have reached out and touched them. Fear of tipping prevented me from doing so. Fear of what it would be like to touch them stopped me too. What if it was icky? Or they jumped? No touching for me.

I was afraid to turn the boat and sail into them. This was a small boat. Maybe 22-24 feet and low to the water. Tippy boat. Would they tip us over with all their jumping and playing? My stomach was turning. They were jumping a little. Playing with each other. This was not a fast boat. YES, fast for sailing but not like a big motorized boat. There were shipping boats that came into this inner harbor.

FJ sailboat Photo by wseltzer from flickr

Not sure if I was excited or scared.

It was cool to see them.

Wished I had a camera.

There must have been over 50 of them. They seemed to hang out there. The sailing teacher did not seem surprised and just said that was the extra for sailing there. Finally they disappear as a huge ship started down the channel to go out to the Ocean.

Many have theories why the dolphins come to boats. The noise of the boat on the water seems to ring a bell most since we were not a fast-moving sailboat like a motor boat.

This was a very special day! For both myself and my guest. Something in my mind’s eye and emotions that will live forever. As I look for images to bring this story to life, the day is reviewed in my mind with the same joy and pleasure as the day of the event.

The next time I went out with someone else we did not see dolphins. That was the last time I got to go out since it was difficult finding someone to crew.

Resources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottlenose_dolphin
• http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/latest-questions/question/2569/
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/ODU-Sailing/81292153428?sk=wall
• http://hamptonroads.com/summer-camps/old-dominion-university-youth-and-adult-sailing-lessons
• http://www.odusports.com/sports/c-sail/oldd-c-sail-body.html
• Similar boat to what we sailed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjXit9juKaA
• Similar amount dolphins and closeness to boat but the sailboat I was on was closer to the water and slower http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoyTY8XPr4w
• More dolphins running with sailboat   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozaHPi186RQ

• Never saw this many http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR9JX2fRk3c
• Stampede http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDiEXRMB-u8
• Surfing Dolphins   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWauuX_1KH8

Photo by Bird Brian from Flickr
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Eileen Lud­wig, travel writer of Free­lance Tourist brings to the world insights about places to travel, dis­counts, Stay­ca­tions, Restau­rant Reviews, movie reviews, and fas­ci­nat­ing tibits. She is owner of three other sites: Pho­tog­ra­phy, Web Design School, and Social Media School Each are in dif­fer­ent stages of devel­op­ment and evolution.

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