An Experience Of A Lifetime by Megan

Today we went swimming with WILD DOLPHINS!!!! We had to get up really early as our trip was booked for 5:30AM!!

We got ready and then went to the centre to get all our gear on. We had to wear flippers, goggles and snorkel, a hood and two wet suits (as the ocean is so cold). We got on to the bus to take us to the boat which only took a few minutes.

It was then a 25 minute ride on the boat until the guide spotted some dolphins. The pod wasn't big enough to swim with, so we went on the search for some more. We saw a few more small pods on the way. Finally the guide told us to get ready to go for the plunge. The water wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. We jumped in, and I immediately saw 5 dolphins swimming gracefully in a small group. The dolphins we were swimming with were dusky dolphins. The were really pretty. Grey with a white streak down the middle. The skipper called us back into the boat. When I was about 5 metres away from the boat, a mother and her young calf started to circle me! It was really funny. I think they wanted to play with us for longer as when we drove to the next spot, the dolphins started to follow the boat. They were like bullets in the water. We started to go full speed ahead and the dolphins managed to keep up! They even swam ahead, and performed some impressive jumps. We got to go in the water 5 times in total, as dolphins are normally on the move, so that number is the company's limit so people didn't disturb them too much.

When we were heading back, a massive pod of about 50 or 60 dolphins were heading over to the rear of the boat. They started to show off a lot! They did some very impressive jumps; such as a back flip and slapping their tail on the water and creating a massive splash. We were also lucky to see the dolphins mating! We managed to take loads of fantastic pictures and videos in and out of the water. (We cant put the ines in the water in yet; weve got them on a disc).

We felt as if we were racing the dolphins, as they kept on dodging in and out of the boats way. When we reached land again, we got changed and headed back to to the apartment to get ready to leave for our next spot, Picton. When we got there, we dropped our stuff off, and then went to the harbour for a small walk. We walked to a spot called Bob's Bay, named after a fisherman.

It was very pretty, and the water was very clear. Emma and I saw some fish on the shore, so we put it on to a stick and put it into the water hoping to catch something. We got a nibble of a small fish, but it swam away.

We headed back to the apartment to have some dinner. Swimming with dolphins was AMAZING and was one of my favourite things on the trip!!