Dancing With Dolphins

October-November 2002

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Derek Berliner

Derek wasn't taking pictures during his dolphin encounter, unfortunately, so here instead is a shot of Cape Point which gives a sense of the area. Photo: Derek Berliner

Two very different seas wash the southern chunk of the Cape Province of South Africa - the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the west meet the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean to the east. Although too far south for coral reefs, the Cape peninsula is rich in diverse marine species and an excellent location for viewing marine mammals - especially when it's winter in the northern hemisphere!

January 4th 2002 was one of those beautifully calm, windless mornings, the sea like a large glistening lake, the water swimming pool clear. I set off from Chapmans Bay and the seaside village of Noordhoek, paddling over the kelp beds, gliding just above the canopy of these surreal seaweed forests - the favoured habitat of the west coast rock lobster. I skirted close to the rocky outcrops lined with Cormorants hanging out to dry, migrant Terns preening themselves, and the endemic Oyster catchers, nervously strutting about in their formal black attire and cherry red beaks.

Being on the water and keeping silent allows one an intimate and unobtrusive approach to shore birds. With the early morning sun warm on my back, the shrill cries of the sea birds, and the gentle lapping of water on the sides of the kayak, I drifted into a content and meditative state. Then about 100 meters behind me, a splash disturbed the calm. Startled, I spun around. At last - dolphins!

Two or three dolphins leaped from the water. My pulse raced as I paddled towards them. I kept my strokes steady and smooth hoping that this would not scare them. Then the water around me came alive with sleek moving bodies. I was surrounded by the sounds from their blowholes - 'Pweewaha' - as they cleared their breathing holes and sucked in another breath before diving again. Some came racing out of the water a few meters from me, leaping clear into the air, twisting and spinning, and coming down with a splash. Others dived under the boat, emitting a stream of bubbles as they streaked through the crystal clear water.

To my surprise, not all of these smiling and joyful creatures were dolphins - among them were a number of young seals, apparently imitating the behaviour of the dolphins. Young seals will occasionally, hang out with dolphins (particularly when the water is clear), but whether this is done for protection, co-operative hunting or just for the sheer fun of trying to out-swim each other is not clear. But on this occasion it seemed as if fun was the sole motive.

A young seal surfaced near me, and rolled onto its back and clapped its front fins together in an apparent gesture of applause. It's difficult not to be anthropomorphic about this behaviour. I had to remind myself that these creatures were completely wild and free and had not been specially trained for surprise performances, for humans in kayaks.

There were about 40 dolphins and ten seals. The dolphin pod appeared to be a loose association of three or four family groups, continually coming together and moving apart, evidently keeping in continual communication with one another, displaying the so-called 'power of the pod' - the beauty of being a truly connected group. The seals appeared to be accepted as part of the pod.

These were the common dolphins (Delphinus delphinus), with long smiling snouts, white bellies, dark backs and the distinctive hourglass pattern. They are not seen much on the Atlantic side, more often seen surfing in the waves in the Indian Ocean. The word 'common' refers to their geographically wide occurrence. This is probably the same species depicted by the ancient Minoans on the frescos of the Palace of Knossos. The ancient Greeks held dolphins in high esteem. It is said that they modeled their society on the freedom and self-discipline of dolphins. Interestingly, the word 'dolphin' has the same roots as Delphi, (seat of the most important ancient Greek temple, and the oracle of Delphi), meaning womb, source of life and wisdom. To the Australian Aboriginal tribes, the Dolphin is deeply sacred, being their wise, elder brother. When an Aboriginal dies, his spirit becomes a Dolphin.

After a while the group seemed to lose interest in 'entertaining me' and started to move off. By this stage I was quite elated. The joy of dolphins is infectious - the healing and serotonin-enhancing effects that the presence of dolphins induce are well-documented. Certainly everything seemed brighter and clearer, and sparkled with freshness.

Chapman’s Bay. Photo: Derek Berliner

To rekindle their curiosity I started to imitate the sounds that they made clearing their breathing holes and splashed the paddle around, speaking to them in soothing tones. This brought the pod racing back in my direction and they proceeded to repeat the whole performance, leaping and dancing in the air. I started paddling out at a steady pace. "Let's race" they seemed to be saying to me. They swam alongside the kayak, and under the boat, every now and then one would race forward and leap out in front of the kayak, its smiling face a few meters from mine.

The dolphin encounter lasted for about half an hour, but seemed a lot longer. I felt as if reality had been temporarily suspended, and I had been transported into their world.

Dolphins have the second highest brain-to-body weight ratio in the animal world, only slightly less than that of humans (1.19 % for dolphins as apposed to 2.1% for humans, and 0.7 % for Chimps). But their intelligence has evolved in a different direction to that of humans. Perfecting their relationship to their environment, they have no need for the polluting technologies that appear to be essential for modern humans to survive. A dolphin's built-in sonar far surpasses the performance of man-made equipment. They can tell size, shape, texture, and also density. Furthermore, no one has, as of yet, been able to jam their sonar. It would appear that dolphins live in a state of sheer exuberant joy in being alive. During encounters with them in the wild we are reminded that this too is our inherently natural state of being (so yearned for by everybody yet so painfully inaccessible to most of humanity).

While dolphins are more than willing to share their world with humans, humans continue to pollute and even persecute them. Although dolphins enjoy protection throughout most of the world, they are still hunted in some parts, notably Japan and Norway. In South Africa as in most parts of the world they suffer from indirect persecution from drift nets, and the bio-accumulation of industrial and agricultural pollutants.

Eventually, the dolphins and seals disappeared into the deep blue, and I paddled back to the closest beach, to rest and assimilate the experience. The beach was desolate but for a lone horse rider who had witnessed the encounter. She rode up to me as I pulled the boat clear of the water. "That must have been quite a treat," she said.

© Derek Berliner is a South African specialist in terrestrial ecology who has worked in Africa and abroad in wildlife management, research, training, consulting and biodiversity impact assessment. He believes travel writing to be a more effective way of getting environmental values across to the general public than technical and scientific reports. eco-logic@mweb.co.za