Capturing the Moment

  All season we had been looking for pantropical spotted dolphins with no luck. Finally last week we spotted a huge pod of playful spotteds. The wind was nonexistent so the ocean was glassy, giving off some interesting reflections of the dolphins when they would jump. The guests were delighted with the dolphins riding the bow wave but I was more interested in the one riding our stern wake.   I always tell my photography classes to try and get pictures of animals coming towards you. This will make the scene more dramatic and shows your audience that you were not scaring the animal. It also shows some expertise, and that you either put yourself in the right position, have researched and put in the time with your subject, got lucky, or a combination of all of them.  Check out more pictures of dolphins on my photo site: http://www.daimarsphotos.com/Wildlife/Dolphins/

Heading out to the water anytime here in Hawaii is bound to be a great time. For a marine biologist it can also be like a treasure hunt. I am always thinking about the incredible animals I must be casting a shadow on as I drift over in a boat. Sometimes you are lucky enough for those animals to rise up and break the surface. While this happens very infrequently with sharks and rays and other kinds of fish, you have a much better chance with marine mammals like dolphins. Here in Maui I often see spinner dolphins and bottlenose dolphins just off the coast but if you get into deep enough water other species start popping up. One of these is the Pantropical Spotted Dolphin, or Stenella attenuata. They have a tri-coloration pattern going from dark to light down their sides much like spinner dolphins, but a tall curved dorsal fin like a bottlenose dolphin. Sometimes you can see many white spots down the sides of older ones, and if you catch a view of the beak as they break the surface yo...