Iconic dolphins – behind the scenes

Dolphins are an iconic face in the ocean. Sporting an eternal smile, they are relatively elusive. But there are a few places in the world where they actively seek to make contact.

The oceanic bottlenose dolphins seek to get close to the divers. This was the first time I have witnessed a specific behaviour in which the dolphins came to “stand” in front of me, heads up and tail fins down, holding a perfect buoyancy pose before me, before releasing a few bubbles of air. This, in my humble (30+ years of marine animal observation) opinion is an effort from the dolphin to bond with us, by mimicking us. Often, divers are positioned vertically in the blue when watching dolphins buzzing around them. The dolphins come and mimic us in an effort to communicate with us. We know they are super smart and we know they communicate on a different level that we are used to. A different communication channel. They want to connect – we are just not smart enough to understand them.