Bowriding Bottlenose in Hawaii

  It is December and the humpback whales are still scarce here in Hawaiian waters but are on their way from their feeding grounds in Alaska. In the meantime we are having a blast with the year round resident dolphins that call Hawaii home. Large groups of spinner dolphins show up along the coast, pilot whales can be seen a few miles off the Big Island, and a few good encounters with Tursiops truncatus, bottlenose dolphins, have delighted the guest.
   Without the ship changing course or speed these bottlenose dolphins swam over to the Safari Explorer and delighted the guests by bowriding the pressure wave created by the moving ship. Passengers were squealing with delight which mixed in perfectly with the squeaks and squeals coming from the dolphins. And as we looked down at the dolphins one would occasionally turn and swim on its side, looking right back up at us.

        Dolphin and Whale Pictures 

Here's Looking at You