Dolphins

Is there or where is there more likely place(s)to run into dolphins and maybe even swim with them?
Thanks, Ron

I have been sailing for almost 50 years. It happens when it happens and it's always a wonderful experience

Anywhere but the dolphin jail on tortola

We were fortunate to see 1 in The Bight a few years back that was very playful and the other time I can remember was right outside of Sophers Hole. But again, it's hit or miss.

GOOD LUCK THOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!

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The place with the most sightings for us has been the bay behind Monkey Point.

Biscayne Bay is where I've always seen dolphins routinely... But that's in Florida. Agree with Warren about swimming with them...

We've seen them all over - never had a chance to swim with them - closest we came was diving the indians, a pair swam by.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ZYr1YfZaY

We also had one surface while we were sitting on the boat in the Bight. We were surprised to see one in there!

Dolphins in their natural habitat, are more likely to be seen from the boat.

The few times I've been in the water diving when they're around, they might look on, but they always take off. They have a quick look and go.

The habits of flipper were trained animals, not wild.

I'd say the north side of Tortola or the SFD channel have offered the most frequent sightings for me. And the sail to St Maarten.

We saw dolphins years ago on the sail back from Anegada near VG and whales on the sail to Anegada - they were beautiful and crossed 100 yards in front of us.

We saw one last year when coming into Cooper. He was very friendly and stayed around our boat for a while. The other time was three trips ago sailing to Anegada. It was so magical having them swim along the boat for a while.

Would love someone ( Steve I believe) to repost the video of the dolphins at The Bight playing with the teens..magical..

oh yes! Steve, please repost, would love to bookmark that video and send to Haley and Nicole (especially as we come up the the one year mark of her dad's passing next week)

speaking of which I have a great video from Tom Garvey's sanctuary that I made with the dolphins swimming off the bow but we were south of ST Thomas when they joined us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKsMjIZISxs
this was so cool!!

We had two dolphins join us at virgin Gorda in May 2015. They stuck around for 20 minutes or so. One would swim down roll and come right back to us.

Several times we have sailed out to the North Drop, both times we had large pods of dolphins join us. Probably 40-50 of them.

Had one right behind us today just after we passed monkey point.

Primarily the outer balls at Copper and the outer balls at Monkey Point. One time we were swimming with a mother/calf. My son let out a "hey Mom, I just petted it!!!" At the time we were amazed and thought it was really cool. Then reality set in after doing a google search. REALLY DUMB IDEA!!! Apparently the mother does not like this at all. There are numerous cases of shattered pelvic bones where the mother rams the offender with her head.
Oh, and a really dumb idea learned after the fact, don't swim in fish balls. Pelicans can really F you up.

We has several dolphins entertain us on our way back from Anegada headed to Lee Bay. We were about 2/3 of the way back. It was really fun to see them playing and jumping in the bow wake.

If not rare I've found it to be uncommon to encounter dolphins on any one trip. I'm sure over the years that many came alongside or surfaced at the bow that we might have missed. People are busy chatting etc and often not looking close to the boat when out of harbors. Often their "swim alongs'" are brief and easily missed.
Dolphins are somewhat rare in the BVI because that gin clear water we all love is not conducive to the food chain that supports them in other waters.
The most amazing dolphin experience we have had was in the backwaters of Charleston South Carolina. There is a guy who gives trips there out to Sullivan island, near fort Sumpter. His family has had land nearby for 200 years and has a lot of civil war and post civil war information. But the highlight of the cruise was when he picked us up from Sullivan's island and said Dolphin were feeding off the other end? We had seen a few dolphin on our way out to the island and I wasn't as enthusiastic as I would have been if I knew what he was talking about. We went down a small strip of water between marshy areas and oyster beds on each side. You saw several dolphin close by. They were herding mullet together. Then with a rush 7 adult Dolphins rushed the school up onto the shore coming totally out of the water themselves on a dirt bank between the sharp oyster beds. They grabbed mullet on shore on the way to the shore and as they went back into the water. Each dolphin turns on its right side and works it's way back to the water. They then herd em up again, repeat the process of beaching themselves to feed until full or bored and move on. I thought watching whales work together to bubblenet feed in Alaska was the greatest, but this beats it. One of the most amazing things I've seen..and you were 40 feet away as it was going on. It is called "strand feeding" and only happens with a line of Dolphins in South Carolina and Georgia. We took videos but if you google strand feeding Dolphins you will likely get a better picture.

Had this same experience out from Wilmington Island near Savannah a few years ago.

I saw this last September in Saint Simons Georgia... Amazing

A number of years ago while at anchor in Great Harbor Jost Van Dyke a pod of dolphins persisted in using our anchor chain to rub their bodies apparently to remove ectoparasites.

Seen a few in the recent past when sailing from JVD back to West end, doing about 9 knots and they were leaping around the bows for a few mins... beautiful to watch...

My daughter swam with 2 dolphins at Norman a couple of weeks ago.