Temptation takes you swiming with the dolphins in south australia

Dolphin Reports

DOLPHIN REPORTS ARCHIVE from January to May 2006.

Dolphin Report to end of May, 2006

May was an easy month for the crew – there were dolphins everywhere and half of these pods where our locals. Also there were lots of seal sightings.

The local dolphins have been around Brighton and Glenelg but out in the deeper water.

Temptation will be taken out of the water 1st June to extend the bridgedeck to allow for wheelchair access. She will be back in the water on the 1st August, with the first scheduled swim on Saturday 12th August, 06.

The 05/06 season has been down on previous years with less local dolphins spotted throughout the season. This, I believe, is due to the water clarity and the effects this has had on the local squid breeding grounds.

The signs are good for the new season, however, with squid starting to get caught in close again.

Dolphin Report to end of April, 2006

Catching dinner The start to April was not very good with only a few local dolphins in the Glenelg area. Due to this we had to travel a long way South to find our southern pods, which like to play on the bow more than with the swimmers. This was OK as the water visibility around Glenelg was not too good anyway.

The second half of the month was excellent when the local dolphins started coming back, many of them we had not seen for around six months. This is always a good time for crew and of course for the swimmers. friendly pat on dolphin boat

There are seals all along the coast at the moment and a few penguins.

Please note the last swim for this season will be on Sunday 28th May.

Temptation will be taken out of the water and 1.5metres added onto the back deck – this will create a larger entertainment deck and allow for wheel chair access.

To be updated June, 2006.

Dolphin swim

Dolphin Report to end of March, 2006

March started off very well with Temptation heading away from the Glenelg coastline to pick up the large pods of common dolphins that had been feeding on bait fish in the deeper waters off Glenelg. This continued everyday of March up to the 21st, when we headed out into the bait fish to find the common dolphins had left the area.

The rest of March was hit or miss swims – either very good interaction or very little – this depended on whether we could find our local dolphins or the Southern area dolphins, which tend to stay with Temptation for only a short time.

We have seen seals resting out from Glenelg every day of March.

To be updated May, 2006.

Dolphin Report to end of February, 2006

Dolphin Swimming
Common Dolphin - photo by Robyn Brody

Excellent weather and visibility for the entire month. Lots of seals out in the usual resting area.

We have had 2 new borns, and this month both mums bought the babies to the bow of the boat, but not the swimmers as yet.

The swim interaction for February has been very good.

The last 6 days of Feb we went out a bit further to look at some common dolphins, who were feeding on small fish out from Glenelg. On one occasion a bottle nose came to the bow when six common were playing there, the bottlenose nipped at the commons if they got too close, then two more bottlenose came in and the commons left and went back to the swimmers. When the bottlenose left the bow to go back to the swimmers the common would come back to the bow and on it went back and forth, like a little game – which of course was a fantastic show for both the swimmers and watchers.


Just playing

Dolphin Report to end of January 2006

dolphin leap Perfect weather for all of January with winds coming off the land.

The interaction has been very good for this time of year and lots of dolphins spotted on all trips. Water visibility is also great.

To date we have seen no new borns along the coastline, however, there have been reports of new borns in the Port River.

Mo Hawk and Kris have found us on most occasions in January, but Mo Hawk is going back to her old habits of only wanting to bow ride.

This February, for 12 months, we will have Hanne Ingen, an honours student from Flinders University on board. She will be conducting a study using an underwater microphone, to see if the local dolphins have a liking or disliking for music. Hanne will also help with our research data collected on each cruise.

dolphin splash