Deb and I got to swim with bottlenose dolphins last month. Getting up early, we took the dinghy from The Katharina to an area where the dolphins were known to hang out. For most of the time, the dolphins were shy. They sank into the murky water and only surfaced when necessary to breathe (photo #4 shows them surfacing). Then, when we climbed back into the dinghy, it was showtime! First they spy-hopped (photo #1), then they went into showoff mode (photos #2 and #3). When we left, they raced alongside the dinghy at surprisingly fast speeds.
Photographed in the Raja Ampat region of Indonesian New Guinea.