Dolphin Watch
Exhilaration
By ANN WEAVER
Article published on Thursday, July 12, 2007
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| Photo by ANN WEAVER |
| Dolphin DD1 and a jet skier enjoy some fun surfing in the wake created by a large yacht. |
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Time on a nice big boat far out to sea makes people calmer and quieter. The meditative sameness of the surrounding horizon mesmerizes most people into somnolence.
Movement becomes methodical, less maniacal. In the absence of telephones, e-mails and traffic, we become contemplative.
People are calm and contemplative, that is, until dolphins show up to ride the bow and wake waves.
Their animated appearance sends a dramatic ripple of energy through most boaters, who then rush pell-mell for a place to watch the grinning surfers run the boat’s waves.
Whatever is behind it, boat-surfing dolphins give most of us a real charge. Maybe that’s because bow-riding dolphins come so close and stay, they satisfy some human urge to be near them. Maybe it’s because their riotous rides help us relive our own last really fun roller coaster ride, screaming like kids again.
What’s stunning is that this electrifying exhilaration defies time and familiarity. For people like Captain John Heidemann and myself, who regularly spend a great deal of time with free-ranging dolphins, surfing dolphins are just as thrilling to watch now as they were the first time.
Last Saturday, a dolphin resident of John’s Pass we call DD1 electrified our survey with a long bout of surfing, dolphin-style. But she wasn’t alone. Maybe she knew it.
DD1 is an adult female bottlenose dolphin. We named her DD instead of the gender-free letter D because her dorsal fin is split in two halves. We don’t know how it happened. One explanation is that she was hit by a boat propeller. We added the 1 when we found a second dolphin with a split fin, lovely local DD2.
DD1 had been foraging off a mangrove island in the northern part of our study area earlier that morning. While animal behaviorists rarely interpret the mood of the animals they study, we were struck by some unusual behaviors. Granted, they could’ve been part of her hunt for breakfast. But we know DD1 well.
She rarely fights or even cavorts with others. You could call her sedate. So when she did a headstand, arched her head repeatedly and later shot free of the water in a sudden aerial bow, it stood out. But we didn’t suggest she was in a good mood.
We found her a mile south later, still hunting but diffidently. That’s when a handsome yacht approached, powering up to cruising speed from a no-wake zone. By the time it got abreast of DD1, the yacht had worked up a good head of steam and left a trail of tall equally-handsome rollers in its wake.
It would be like you in the middle of your workday getting the unexpected chance to leap onto a wonderful roller coaster and shed your worries for a moment of sheer exhilaration. Admirably unhampered by any sense of responsibility for unfinished work, DD1 disappeared into the yacht’s voluptuous wake.
She’s going to ride, we cried.
Perhaps drawn into the building energy, John shot into action. He accelerated, pacing with the charging yacht but ahead of the rollers. I eagerly aimed the camera at the wake.
DD1’s gray silhouette shimmered intermittently against the translucent sheer of the roller she rode. Click, click, the camera recorded. DD1 was actually surfing.
Suddenly, she shot free of the roller, launching herself skyward and twisting, landing on her side. How could she recover fast enough to stay in the surging swell? Somehow she managed and made it look easy. Another launch. Wow. Click. Click. Got the shot. Wow.
Cuing off each other, John and the yacht captain cut a parallel course at speed, faster and faster. Again and again, DD1 shot free. Click. Click. Click.
Every time she shot free, DD1 landed on her right side. Are dolphins left- or right-sided like people are left- or right-handed?
A jet skier zoomed in to join the fun. Whoever he was, that man knew how to work waves. On the right side of the wake (DD1 was on the left side), he raced parallel to the wake, cut a sharp left, hit the wake and went airborne. Click. Click.
Yacht, research boat, dolphin, jet skier sped onward totally in sync. Dolphin and jet skier played the waves, bouncing aloft, realigning. Coordinated captains made it happen. On and on we sped, captivated.
DD1 surfed and leapt for more than a mile. I think all of our hearts leapt every time she did. Did she feel the simultaneous excitement of speed and muscular demand like water-skiing nephew Tom Gouwens did last month?
As all exhilaration eventually ebbs back to reality, the yacht eventually slowed for the next no-wake zone. In the wake of this electric moment, yachters, researchers and jet skier bubbled with delight.
Is it so weird to think DD1 got a similar charge out of the deal?
Dr. Weaver studies wild dolphins under federal permit GA1088-1815, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Send her an e-mail at acweaver@tampabay.rr.com or visit www.dazzlingdolphins.com.
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Article published on Thursday, July 12, 2007
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