Kathy's story
December 18, 2016
Aloha NOAA,
My experience with dolphins is basically a vicarious one.
I have on occasion been on boat tours and experienced what they call “drive bys” where dolphins are in transit and do not stop to interact.
I don’t swim in the bays like many people who live on the island or tourists who come from all over the world.
My partner however, swims with a camera and records interactions on nearly a daily basis for the love of the sea and it’s creatures.
I have witnessed through these countless videos what they have termed “the leaf game” where a person will set a leaf under the water and back away.
A dolphin will pick up the leaf with it’s rostrum, slide it down it’s body to a fin and carry it around for a while and then slide it down it’s tail and kick it back to the person who gave them the leaf.
They do this with people who they have come to know and trust.
If a tourist swims after them, they just swim away.
They are at choice to interact or not.
They are faster than humans and swim into depths that snorkelers can not go.
There are rarely divers with tanks in the bay.
If they really like the person, they will swim circles around that person.
I like the idea of a no swim zone, so that people who do not know the proper etiquette will not give chase…ie. tourists who are new to the island, as well as boat charters who want to serve their passengers.
Perhaps either bouys partitioning off an area by the Captain Cook monument or the whole of Kealakekua Bay as a rest area for the dolphins, but to leave the other two bays; Honounou and Ho’okena free for tourists and locals alike to swim as they choose.
The dolphins seem to love the interaction with humans, much like dogs love to play fetch with a ball.
As far as I am aware, there is no scientific evidence that damage is done to the dolphins the way things presently are.
Aloha NOAA,
My experience with dolphins is basically a vicarious one.
I have on occasion been on boat tours and experienced what they call “drive bys” where dolphins are in transit and do not stop to interact.
I don’t swim in the bays like many people who live on the island or tourists who come from all over the world.
My partner however, swims with a camera and records interactions on nearly a daily basis for the love of the sea and it’s creatures.
I have witnessed through these countless videos what they have termed “the leaf game” where a person will set a leaf under the water and back away.
A dolphin will pick up the leaf with it’s rostrum, slide it down it’s body to a fin and carry it around for a while and then slide it down it’s tail and kick it back to the person who gave them the leaf.
They do this with people who they have come to know and trust.
If a tourist swims after them, they just swim away.
They are at choice to interact or not.
They are faster than humans and swim into depths that snorkelers can not go.
There are rarely divers with tanks in the bay.
If they really like the person, they will swim circles around that person.
I like the idea of a no swim zone, so that people who do not know the proper etiquette will not give chase…ie. tourists who are new to the island, as well as boat charters who want to serve their passengers.
Perhaps either bouys partitioning off an area by the Captain Cook monument or the whole of Kealakekua Bay as a rest area for the dolphins, but to leave the other two bays; Honounou and Ho’okena free for tourists and locals alike to swim as they choose.
The dolphins seem to love the interaction with humans, much like dogs love to play fetch with a ball.
As far as I am aware, there is no scientific evidence that damage is done to the dolphins the way things presently are.