We decided to do a wall dive off the coast of Conception Island (southeastern Bahamas). We gathered our gear and selected a spot on the west side of the island just south of Conception Creek where the sea floor at 60 feet dropped over a wall straight down to about 300 feet and then sloped off to thousands! We donned our gear and descended along our anchor line to 60 feet. Then we proceeded to the wall. At around 80 feet Denise was gazing off into the deep blue of the steep slope while Don poked around in the coral on the wall. All of a sudden, Don sensed a creature peering over his left shoulder and he turned his head to find himself face to face with a Bottlenose Dolphin – about 6 inches from his nose!!! Don immediately started clicking away with his Canon.
Photo ©Don Bermant
Then Denise turned about and saw what was going on!
She swam towards the Dolphin and the Dolphin swam towards Denise!!
Together the Dolphin and Denise swam back over to the sea floor at 60 feet and started this little dance! Check it out.
This went on for about 15 minutes during which the Dolphin went to the surface 5 times to get air before coming back down to play some more. It was an unforgettable experience. We started running low on air so had to surface as well. Here is a final shot of the Dolphin leaving us. Stay tuned to this site for the videos from Denise’s GoPro.
These photos are amazing. Unbelievably beautiful experience! Thank you for sharing this.
Wow, that was exciting!
What an adventure Don, I see why you and Denise like the Bahamas so much!
😎
Amazing gift experience! Gorgeous photos Don, well done!! WOW!
Thanks Gail!
YOU are living my dream! love it keep it coming!
Hello Don and Denise, I am a research assistant at The Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation. This was an awesome experience and these pictures are excellent! We collect sighting data from the public to monitor dolphin populations in The Bahamas. Would you be able to provide me with the date, time, and location of this encounter? Or feel free to send in an official sighting report:
http://www.bahamaswhales.org/sightings/index.html. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at fknowles@bahamaswhales.org. Once again, beautiful experience!
Happy to provide the information. We will log in to your site and provide the data. We were wondering if you know this dolphin. It has very distinctive markings near the tail area. The area looks like it has been damaged from a rope or line of some sort – check it out. We have both done a lot of diving and never encountered an experience like this so are wondering if this dolphin has a history around humans. Thank you for your interest and research.
Fantastic mid-morning break you’ve provided for me, thank you for sharing, I’ll bet you couldn’t stop talking about your experience after you surfaced!!!!
Thanks for inviting us to your blog, it is truly awazing and we are so proud to say we know these great adventurers! All the best Sharon and Lowell
Simply Incredible
As if I couldn’t wait to get back out cruising soon enough, these amazing photos blow me away. I can’t even imagine what the experience felt like. Beautifully shot… Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for your comments! Enjoy!
Very cool! Fun to look at sunny warm places while we watch the Utah powder stack up!
Keep it coming! Looking forward to carving some turns in late January!!