LOVINA BEACH, BALI – One of the ‘must-do’ activities during our December trip to Bali was to go on a dolphin tour.
Melanie and I had seen dolphins swimming in the wild before – in the chilly waters around Vancouver Island and the not-so-chilly waters of the Amazon River, where the resident dolphins were pink (yes, really!).
We were determined to see how the Indonesian dolphins measured up.
Our north coast lodging at Lovina Beach offered several different tours – temples, museums, shopping – but we only had eyes for the dolphins. We booked a boat for the following morning.
“The captain will meet you here at the front desk at 5:45… A.M.”
We set our alarm for a painfully early pre-dawn wake-up.
Morning came way too soon
Next morning, sure enough… when we crept downstairs at 5:45 the captain was already waiting next to his motorbike.
He instructed us to walk toward the beach and to “Wait at the volleyball court while I get my boat.”
As we walked the two blocks to the water, we were approached every few steps by another person asking, “Dolphin tour?”
“No thanks, we’re already booked,” we replied.
They seemed accustomed to rejection and usually continued quietly on their way to look for their next prospect.
The next man tried a different ploy
The next man we turned down tried a different ploy… “He said you should wait here,” he told us, pointing to a nearby storefront.
We ignored him and kept walking.
While we waited at the volleyball court, still more men came by.
“Dolphin tour?”
“No,” we said to each new query. “Already booked.”
We realized just how cutthroat the competition for passengers was when the next tout pointed toward the beach and said, “Your boat.”
Still a bit groggy from the early wake-up, I didn’t remember exactly what our guide looked like, but I could tell the one he pointed toward was not our guy.
“He was wearing a ball cap,” I told Mel. “And maybe a red T-shirt,” I added.
Our captain finally arrived
Finally, a boat came ashore piloted by a slender man who matched my vague memory, and off we went.
A handful of other boats were leaving the pier at the same time, all headed in the same general direction.
As we got farther out to sea, we saw more and more boats heading toward a crowd of other boats visible in the distance.
When we got close enough to see individual boats, I counted 20 to 25 vessels bobbing up and down in the light breeze.
The boats looked like four-legged water spiders, with outriggers supported by a pair of curving braces – one near the front and one at the back – straddling the narrow hull.
A canopy shaded us from the bright morning sun
An outboard motor mounted on the back provided the power to navigate the gentle swells. And a canopy overhead shaded us from the bright morning sun.
By now there were a lot more boats in the crowd. Each time any of them spotted swimming dolphins, the whole pack leapt into action, charging toward the innocent creatures.
More than once, some of the boats ran right into the middle of a dolphin pod, scattering the poor mammals in every direction.
Our captain, Ari, was more respectful of the gentle creatures, hanging back from the scrum that kept endlessly jockeying for position. His strategy was more thoughtful, trying to maneuver into a space where the dolphins could come to him.
And it paid off. More than once, a pod of dolphins swam right in between our position and the tight-packed crowd of other boats.
At the peak of the morning action, I counted around 50 boats. Each one carried at least two, and as many as 20 passengers, though most held only half a dozen or so.
One more time, we enjoyed a private tour
Melanie and I were the only ones in our boat, even though the hotel staff had told us we might be sharing the ride with as many as five people. Once again, we had lucked into a private tour.
We enjoyed several close encounters with the dolphins and saw as many as a dozen at a time. One encounter lasted more than a minute, with the pod leaping again and again into the air before arching gracefully back into the water.
It was a magical experience… one we’ll not soon forget.
Smiling and satisfied, we arrived safely back on land and returned to our hotel by 8 a.m., just in time for breakfast.
For more about our Bali adventure, check out What to wear to a temple in Bali.
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