Spinner Dolphins perform Arcuate Leaps

Aloha,
With all the Black Sand Picnic Snorkel Adventures we’ve been running lately, we’ve only been able to operate two Dolphin Watch Adventures in the past week. They each departed from Anaeho’omalu Bay on Manu Iwa. This past Thursday (6/7) we found a pod of Spinner Dolphins just north of the bay. It was a fairly large pod (we estimate about 80 animals) and they enjoyed having the boat around to play with. In fact, as we ran parallel to the pod, many of them decided to come over to us to play in our bow wake and investigate the boat. We really enjoyed watching them watch us as they swam along side. We saw some cool spins and flips from some of the pod off to our port side, and lots of “arcuate” leaps. On Sunday, 6/10 we didn’t see any dolphins but we did have a great time snorkeling.
Our next Dolphin Watch Adventures are scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday, 6/12) and Thursday, 6/14. Both trips will depart from Anaeho’omalu Bay at 8:00 on Manu Iwa.
Dolphin Fact of the Week:  The arc-shaped leaps dolphins make through the air while swim quickly are called “arcuate leaps”. Researchers suggest the dolphins choose to leap through the air as a way to increase efficiency and speed. When leaping, the dolphin is able to beat her tail once or twice in the water while the front part of her body is in the less dense air, allowing her to take advantage of the reduced drag on the parts of her body not in the water. When a dolphin wants to move quickly, it may actually be easier for her to swim through the air than through the water!
Mahalo,
Captain Claire