Get up close and personal with dolphins

DOLPHIN poo and intimate affairs are just some of the highlights on this Port Stephens dolphin cruise, where you get to swim with the ocean's finest.

Go dolphin spotting - and swimming - on a Port Stephens dolphin crusie. Picture: Escape

BEING pooed on by a dolphin is one thing; seeing two of them have sex right in front of you is quite another. Hearing the high-pitched ring of dolphin song under the water is, well, indescribable.

I am fortunate enough to have all three experiences during one incredible five-minute dolphin swim encounter at Port Stephens, on the mid-north coast of NSW.

Fortunate may seem a strange choice of words, but according to Dolphin Swim Australia founder Andrew Parker, being pooed on by a dolphin is actually a sign of affection.

Dolphins, he tells me, often defecate when they meet other pods as a way of communicating and getting to know more about each other. The fact they are taking such action while swimming with humans shows they feel relaxed and comfortable around us.

Not being able to read dolphin excrement, I can't say I feel I know more about my new mate, but I do have an amusing status update for Facebook.

How it works
Unlike most other dolphin swim experiences, in which you hold on to a rope tied to a boat as they swim past you, in this interaction you attach yourself to a rope which hangs under the catamaran across the bow and are dragged along with them. As anyone who has spent time on boats will know, dolphins love swimming at the bow, so it kind of makes sense to join in the fun.

We had been up before light for our 6am Imagine cruise, watching the sun rise behind the surrounding hills as we left Nelson Bay's d'Albora marina.

Parker runs through safety instructions and warns us it is not a guaranteed experience; these are wild animals and everything depends on them. If it does happen, he tells us, one of the most important things is to remember to look around. Dolphins can approach from either side of the boat, underneath you or in front of you. One woman, he says, missed an amazing encounter entirely because she was looking down the whole time.

We put on our harnesses, snorkels and masks in anticipation and are divided into three groups of four. At first, however, the dolphins are elusive. Teasingly, they play at the bow for a few seconds at a time, before disappearing to feed. This shows they are interested, apparently, but they are hungry and food comes first.

We soon find out why as we come across a huge event, with hundreds of birds swooping to catch fish that have been pushed to the surface in a huge bait ball, with excited dolphins sporadically jumping out of the water across the horizon. I had seen these feeding frenzies in documentaries on television before, but never in real life.

Eventually, though, a few dolphins come and "engage". As Parker is standing in the bow net, one jumps up and playfully butts his foot with its head.

Into the water
During our first swim the water is green and murky and we can't see the dolphins until they are about a metre away. My head is cold and I have to clear salt water from my snorkel regularly, but it is a huge buzz as three or four dolphins at a time zig-zag across the waves in front of us, flicking their tails in our direction.

It is my second swim, however, that is the ripper.

The water seems clearer, and within seconds of us being in the water I hear the dolphins communicating under the water with a piercing cry. Four dolphins glide in front of us, and one is swimming upside down underneath another it seems to be attached to. I am not 100 per cent sure what is going on, but I have a pretty good idea. A couple of minutes later I notice a dolphin's multicoloured faeces floating along underneath me. I am glad I am wearing a wetsuit.

Each group gets five minutes in the water, but it actually feels much longer. After our turn, as we are climbing into the boom net to get back on to the boat, I feel a strange zap, and discover I have accidentally knocked the electro-magnetic shark shield Parker is wearing around his ankle. It gives me a bit of a shock.

When we are back on the boat, Parker confirms the two dolphins I saw in mirror image were, in fact, mating.

"They have sex all the time," he says. "They love it. It's a way of bonding."

The inspiration
Parker began running NSW's first accredited dolphin swim experiences at the start of the year after finally getting a licence after a four year process.

He first fell in love with the mammals after having some close encounters of his own while surfing and introduced a dolphin therapy program after literally having a dream one night about dolphins swimming with disabled children.

But he wanted to take it further and make the opportunity available to a wider audience. At $229 a cruise, the trips aren't cheap, but Parker says the price is comparable with other encounters with animals in the wild and if the dolphins are in the mood, each group may get a few swims in a fourhour period.

As well as the swims, his team is involved in research; studying the area's dolphin population to determine the number in each pod and their migratory patterns. They are compiling a photo identification catalogue of their dorsal fins, which are as unique as fingerprints.

While it is not an experience for the faint-hearted, it is great to finally tick it off the bucket list.

The writer was a guest of Dolphin Swim Australia and Port Stephens Tourism.

More: www.portstephens.org.au

Travel Tips: NSW Destination Guide