Wild Dolphin Safari, Maui

 I try to get in as many adventures as I can during my off time. However, many times my 'on-time' is an adventure in itself. Yesterday I was captain for a wild dolphin safari. This is a three hour tour, (how many of you are humming Gilligan's Island), where we head out wherever the best chance of seeing dolphins might be. Today we headed out to the island of Lana'i which is about 9 miles away from Maui, across the Au'Au Channel.
Bottlenose Dolphin
 Luckily the trade winds had died down just enough today for their to be a little wind shadow off the west coast of Maui. Lately the winds have been so strong that my trips have mine as well been admission to a water park. Not to mention that rough seas can make spotting dolphins tougher. As you can see from the pictures we found dolphins today in glassy, clear water. This is great for picture taking. You can follow along as they swim underwater and see when they are about to come up for air.
 The first group of dolphins we came across were bottlenose dolphins. They travel in small pods here in Hawaii and have vast ranges. They are easy to differentiate from the other common dolphins sighted here because they are nearly twice the size. Hawaiian spinner dolphins are the other commonly seen dolphins species and it is this kind that we spotted next.
With leaping spins and amazing acrobatics I can sometimes tell what species a spinner dolphin is from far away. Also the size, coloration, and triangular dorsal fin give it away once you are a little closer. They also tend to stay in very large pods, up to 300 strong. Being about half the size of bottlenose it may be for their own protection that they stay in such large groups. They hunt by night and sleep by day. But being air breathing mammals they must keep half their brain on in order to continue surfacing and breathing while resting, otherwise they would drown.
 On such a calm day and in such beautiful blue water I had to take a moment to snap a couple of pics from the bridge. Hawaii is a magical place.

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