Saturday, July 18, 2009

Bottlenose Dolphins

Bottlenose dolphin playing with a leaf.

Aloha,

Today's post features the Bottlenose Dolphins that some friends recently encountered while out snorkeling.

These playful creatures are intelligent and known for their friendly dispostion and agility. In one of the photos, the dolphin is "catching" a floating leaf on it's fin, and also swimming with the leaf on its nose.Bottle-nose dolphin playing leaf--swimming with a leaf on its snout.

My friends were dropping the leaves for them to play with. They did not approach or follow this pod as people are not supposed to get close to the dolphins, as tempting as it may be.


They live in social groups called pods. A pod can vary in size, 5 to 100 dolphins in the group. Dolphins communicate through a complicated series of squeaks and whistles.A pod of bottlenosed dolphins near Maui Hawaii

The dolphins enjoy bow-swimming with boats, playing in the wake and waves. I have seen them many times racing around along side the boat and trying to keep in front of it as well. It's a wonderful site, these playful creatures diving and leaping along side the boat.

A bottlednose dolphin swimming near Maui Hawaii, photographed by snorkelersThe dolphins can swim up to 18 miles per hour. Their size is up to 10 feet in length and weight is approx. 1,100 #. The Bottlenose Dolphin's life span is 45-50 years.

They eat small fish and squid, and sometimes follow fishing boats looking for leftovers. The dolphin's greatest danger is getting entangled in fishing nets and gear, and boating traffic.

Bottle Nosed dolphins off Maui Hawaii photographed by snorkelersMany programs and organizations work tirelessly to protect these wonderful creatures. The Pacific Whale Foundation is one great organization that promotes awareness of the ocean's creatures through education.

Enjoy the photos, I sure did!

Aloha for now,
Cherie

3 comments:

arizona carpet cleaners said...

Is this place close to the volcano that you bike down?

Scott Supak said...

Why, yes, Mr. Insurance, it is Mount Haleakala.

Cherie said...

Hi, I do have many guests who stay with me and do the bike ride down the crater road. Some of the companies are no longer operating...none of them can ride with guests through the National Park anymore. Please let me know if you need accommodations during your stay. I am happy to help you.