Swimming with Dolphins in the Wild

Like most sailors, we at Latitude 38 don’t like the idea of dolphins being kept in cages or pens so humans can swim with them. But we don’t see anything wrong with swimming with dolphins in the wild — especially to see if they are messing with your anchor.

A couple of weeks ago, John Rogers of the San Diego-based Deerfoot 62 Moonshadow was up the mast of the boat at Tenacatita Bay when he spotted a couple of dolphins swimming in the clear water beneath the boat. So he dove in with his waterproof camera. He was able to get quite close to them, and discovered that they were — as you can clearly see — using Moonshadow’s anchor chain as a back and chin scratcher.

After John was done, he got to musing if dolphins ever attacked humans with their sharp teeth. Apparently there have been a few cases of dolphins biting humans, but not killing them — which they are easily capable of doing.

So we have two questions: 1) Have you ever gone swimming with dolphins in the wild? And 2) How come dolphins never bite on lures dragging behind boats? Email us here.

P.S. Last night we enjoyed a once-in-a-season splurge at the Sufi restaurant behind the gates in the Four Seasons complex at Punta Mita with John and Debbie. You have to have reservations to get inside the gates, and once inside, it can be pretty hard to find the restaurant. But Sufi is a terrific special-occasion restaurant — free rides to and from the parking lot in a golf cart — and the food is delicious. We recommend getting there about half an hour before dark so you can enjoy all the vegetation and the view back toward Puerto Vallarta. Shorts and sandals are fine, but wear a collared shirt.