Best days boating ...

PeterM · 22 April 2011, 15:49

Back from probably the best days boating I have ever had ... must have been a good 10-15 dolphins in Swanage bay. !!!!!

A great time for Poole Sea Safari passengers aswell who also got a good view!

Pics to follow ....

Spent 9 years on the water round here and never seen them ...till today !!!

My only concern was due to a dive boat 'chasing' them to the point they were going under his bow..

when I suggested he was too close I got 5 minutes of abuse & swearing ....

Anyone know who 'polices' such things ?

Am sure a great day for those crossing the channel going to Paris too !

Nos4r2 · 22 April 2011, 16:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterM

Back from probably the best days boating I have ever had ... must have been a good 10-15 dolphins in Swanage bay. !!!!!

A great time for Poole Sea Safari passengers aswell who also got a good view!

Pics to follow ....

Spent 9 years on the water round here and never seen them ...till today !!!

My only concern was due to a dive boat 'chasing' them to the point they were going under his bow..

when I suggested he was too close I got 5 minutes of abuse & swearing ....

Anyone know who 'polices' such things ?

Am sure a great day for those crossing the channel going to Paris too !

Which dive boat was it? There's a regular one that behaves like that.

PeterM · 22 April 2011, 16:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Which dive boat was it? There's a regular one that behaves like that.

Rude , thoughtless muppet in the pics ....

I'll get this out the way , then get to the ones of some amazing animals.

PeterM · 22 April 2011, 17:05

OK - cant get the embeded vid to work ...but

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8MjsVW1gT4

matt h · 22 April 2011, 17:09

Pete, great pictures, was going to head down this morning. cant believe we missed it!!

PeterM · 22 April 2011, 17:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt h

Pete, great pictures, was going to head down this morning. cant believe we missed it!!

Even warmer and calmer tomorrow Matt !!

ashbypower · 22 April 2011, 17:14

Ah see the muppet is Swanage Diver no suprise there then, run by divers down on the pier !!!

actions · 22 April 2011, 19:13

Great Pics, we get a few seals down this way but never seen any dolphins (yet), mind you we get loads of idiot jet skiers down here which i'm sure would do the same as the dive boat you mentioned.

Steve_B · 22 April 2011, 19:55

Brian

Do you have experience of this outfit? I had treated them as professionals up to today. No point in sending them a copy of the WISE guidance on Dolphin interaction then?

Steve

willk · 22 April 2011, 19:59

Maybe worth getting someone from the relevant organisation to deliver it in person. They may just be ignorant of the "soft touch" approach.

To be fair, no-one wants a lecture on the water, a bit of time to reflect might make a difference.

If that fails, well, you could try dropping cheap floating lines ahead of the dolphins....

SPR · 23 April 2011, 02:45

I made this up from information on web (http://www.wdcs.org)

http://www.eesc.org.uk/content/club-...on-guides.html

A4 Guide with big graphic! Feel free to use....

S.

DGR · 23 April 2011, 10:41

From the pictures you can't tell if the Diver was doing anything wrong. The WISE guidance is to not directly approach or chase them - but when I met dolphins, if I slowed the RIB down to about 8 kts, the dolphins would almost always come towards the boat and play in the bow wave.

Their behaviour depends on the boat/engine (and whether they are in the mood to play)- other people can never get them to come anywhere near their boat.

The Diver doesn't loook like it's going fast - and if the dolphins don't like it they will vanish PDQ.

IMHO obviously - and I wasn't there...

BogMonster · 23 April 2011, 10:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterM

My only concern was due to a dive boat 'chasing' them to the point they were going under his bow.

I don't know how dolphins behave in your part of the world - obviously a very different level of traffic to here - but the ones here make a beeline for the bow wave as soon as you get above about 5 knots and absolutely love riding the bow wave on a boat of any size from a rib right up to commercial shipping, you can turn off course but they will be back in seconds. If you slow to no-wake speed they will circle the boat but as soon as you open the throttle they are right there again. The most playful speed is 10-12 knots when they will leap right out of the water in front of the boat (bit wet for those on board though, especially heading into wind). Who was chasing who?

As above - if they aren't in the mood - or they are feeding - they will disappear in seconds and before you can say "where the hell did they go" they will be 400 yards away. Trying to chase something as agile as a dolphin in a boat - even a RIB - would be like trying to chase a guided missile with a supertanker...

That's the behaviour in this part of the world, yours may be different, just saying around here if I saw somebody doing that I wouldn't worry about it because the animal is very much in control.

Poly · 23 April 2011, 11:28

Steven, thats my experience with porpoises on the west coast too - if you try to avoid them they keep following you. I've seen the "WISE" advice and did wonder if they were describing different animals 100m is quite far, and at 200m you'd probably be hard pressed to spot a dolphin. However doesn't excuse someone being abusive/aggressive towards other boaters expressing concern.

PeterM · 23 April 2011, 16:59

To explain - dolphins doing doing 2knts - Diveboat doing 4-5 from directly behind them until they went under his bow......

Not on in my book .....

Then to be told to P**s off you w****r , what the f**k do you know ...... by a commercial skipper of af 12m boat is not on....

BogMonster · 23 April 2011, 19:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterM

Then to be told to P**s off you w****r , what the f**k do you know ...... by a commercial skipper of af 12m boat is not on....

No doubt at all that sort of behaviour is way out of order

Going up a bit in scale, I heard an interesting bit of advice on following whales recently. Apparently boats with a dark hull are fine as the whale thinks it may be another whale, but boats with a white hull can be mistaken for killer whales by the cruising whale, leading to a possible "robust response"

Dunc · 24 April 2011, 09:09

Sounds like what he was doing was wrong. You should never try to force dolphins to bow ride. In my opinion what is more concerning is the pictures with boats all around the dolphins. This gives them no safe escape route if they want to leave. Also in the pictures on the other thread there is a boat on either side about 10m-20m running along at the same speed as the dolphins. This boat handling is herding them is also considered to be bad practice. If someone else is doing something that you think is wrong or threatening to the dolphins video it and send it to your local wildlife crime police officer. Sometimes motoring over to tell them off creates a worse situation as you then have two noisy boats in the area and the dolphins will feel more pressured.

Hightower · 24 April 2011, 10:50

Dolphins are intelligent animals. I don't see any problem with traveling at speed with a pod, providing you're not "hunting" them down and changing direction with deliberate intent. Obviously if you're in a situation with other boats then consider the safety of other boats when looking.

If the Dolphins don't like like it, they'll just swim off!

Hightower · 24 April 2011, 10:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dunc

Sounds like what he was doing was wrong. You should never try to force dolphins to bow ride. In my opinion what is more concerning is the pictures with boats all around the dolphins. This gives them no safe escape route if they want to leave. Also in the pictures on the other thread there is a boat on either side about 10m-20m running along at the same speed as the dolphins. This boat handling is herding them is also considered to be bad practice.

I don't really agree with what you're saying. How can you force a Dolphin to Bow ride? If they feel theatened, surely they'll simply swim off!

As for no escape route, they have the advantage to swim in 3 dimentions and down away from danger.

Who's herding who?

BogMonster · 24 April 2011, 11:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hightower

I don't really agree with what you're saying. How can you force a Dolphin to Bow ride? If they feel theatened, surely they'll simply swim off!

As for no escape route, they have the advantage to swim in 3 dimentions and down away from danger.

Who's herding who?

That's my experience - if they don't want to play, they just disappear and then usually resurface a few hundred yards away. Admittedly I've no experience of how they behave with lots of boats in the same area.

I would not condone stupid aggressive behaviour or attempts to herd them but I do think that in most cases chasing a dolphin in a boat would be a bit like trying to chase an aeroplane with a car, once it leaves the surface you are pretty much screwed