Temptation takes you swiming with the dolphins in south australia

Dolphin Report to end of December 2005

swimming with dolphins An overall good month for dolphin numbers and interaction.

MoHawk has been putting on a great show with her new born – who we have just named Krys.

Krys is now 11 months old and is turning out to be a special dolphin – she is now interacting hard with the swimmers.

For the last 10 months, MoHawk and Krys have played more on the bow but now that has changed and they are enjoying the swimmers.

The visibility has finally improved and the swimmers in December have had the best deal.

Most mornings, late December in particular, the dolphins have been inside the marina and our first swims are within 15 minutes of leaving the marina.

swimming with dolphins

Dolphin Report to end of November 2005

The dolphin swims in November have been getting a lot better, especially later in the month.

There are loads of dolphins and we are constantly spotting penguins. The water visibility has improved, but not close to shore.

In November we tried to get away from the shoreline of Glenelg and Brighton and ventured into deeper water – where we had excellent swims with large pods of dolphins. This plan will continue throughout December and January, when there is a lot of boat traffic close to shore.

On average, during November, we have been seeing over 70 bottlenose dolphins per trip.

Tonight, prior to writing this report (1-DEC-05) one of our local news station had a story about a local professional fisherman who claims the squid numbers in the local area are significantly down on last year, with his thoughts the same as mine, that this is due to the continually murky water. This report did not mention the sand replenishing.

I expect that December’s report will have a lot more on the sand and hopefully someone will cart the sand back from where it came from.

Dolphin Report to end of October 2005

Lots of dolphins and seals around for the month but once again bad visibility.

This season (from August, 05) I have not been able to see the bottom in close to shore (2m of water). In fact, the water in close to shore has been so bad I haven’t been able to differentiate between weed beds and sandy bottom.

Mid October crew member Jade collected 3 samples of beach sand.

Water Quality at Glenelg
Photo taken 20 seconds after sand is placed in vases.

First sample (on left) is from Glenelg North – next to the breakwater to the Marina entrance - this sand has been trucked in for beach replenishment.

Second sample (middle) is from the sand dunes at West Beach (North of Glenelg) – this sand is the original beach sand from that area.

Third sample (on right) was collected at Brighton (South of Glenelg and a usual area we see dolphins) – This sand is also trucked in.

The first photo is taken 20 seconds after sand is placed in vases.

Water Quality Samples
Photo taken after 28 hours

The second photo is taken 28 hours later and still shows bad visibility in both the left and right vases.

I contacted the Department of Environment and Heritage and was told that they knew of the problem. I was also told that with less light getting through the clay like film over the bottom, it would not effect the sea grasses in the area.

I certainly hope they are right as this may be South Australia’s main calamari hatching area.

Because of the clarity of water, the dolphin swims in November will be conducted further away from the coastline.

Dolphin Report to end of September 2005

There are a lot of local dolphins around this month and only a few new pods in the area. This is good for the watchers and swimmers as our locals will come from a long way to swim with Temptation. Although, again this month, the water is still very dirty.

There are more seals in the area now than I have ever seen before and also plenty of penguins spotted.

Hitchhiker

It is fair to stay that the watchers, once again, have had the best value for money, as the water visibility has been down to only 3 metres close to the coast.

Dolphin Report to end of August 2005

Mohawk Dorsal fin with cut Lots of dolphins around, including many young ones, for the first few swims of the 05/06 season.

The interaction has been good throughout August but swimmers had to contend with cold water and very bad visibility. There is no doubt the watchers got the better deal in August !

The dolphins are already moving into the squid grounds about a month earlier than the last two years, perhaps something to do with the warmer winter we have had this year, anyway, the squid means more dolphins close inshore.

“Mohawk” has come over with her new born on every dolphin trip in August. She has a cut now on the front of her dorsal fin, which was bleeding for days. This will heal but when dolphins are injured on the front of their dorsel fins, they become more prone to snag fishing lines and rope. Lets hope this will not happen to her.