Watching the Freebird, a dolphins eye view

It’s not easy being a dolphin, our water is polluted, we are hunted by fishing fleets and even finding enough food for ourselves is getting harder all the time. There is still one pleasure left to us though, people watching, and luckily Freebird catamarans are constant visitors to our waters, just off the coast of Tenerife.

For some reason people just can’t wait to strip down and bathe in the powerful heat of the sun, and by the look of the deck of the Freebird, it’s custom made for them with netting spread out to lay on, seats to relax in to scan the ocean and even a shaded area for those who want to cool down and have a drink.

The Atlantic is a huge playground for us bottlenose dolphins, both varieties, but somehow, these boats always seem to know where we congregate, I guess it must be the experienced crew. Still while they are moving slowly along side us, we might as well give them a show and pose for a few photos. The waters of the Canary Islands are the best place for all our species, that’s why a third of all dolphins and whales either live here or pass through.

We try to keep them on their toes as we delve in and out of the currents but some of these people are quite bright and can actually tell us apart individually by our colouring and fin markings. It probably helps that they have friends that look out for our welfare like the Atlantic Whale Foundation (www.whalenation.org) . They monitor out movements and try to spot if we are flourishing or, sadly these days, disappearing in large numbers.

The amazing thing from our past experience, is that although there is a lot of fun and laughter on the Freebirds, and they are eating, drinking and smoking, we don’t see any of their rubbish heading our way. Even the smallest of discarded plastic and wrappers can be fatal to us and the ocean is already dirty enough.

We can’t hog the show all the time, at some stage we will give way to the pilot whales, bigger than us of course, but it has to be said, equally as sleek and agile in the water. At least people think we are cute and lovable, some ill informed person branded our friends with the name killer whales, when they have no history of aggression towards humans and usually try to avoid them.

Swimming for us is easy, but for people it’s all very frantic with splashing and kicking, but judging from the way they enjoy diving in just outside one of the quieter coves, it’s a real highlight of their day.

Three hours seem to speed by but as they head back for shore, we can have a little respite till the next trip arrives. We could people watch all day, and it seems that blessed with the comfort and expert guidance of the Freebird, people are more than content to keep coming back to watch us too.