With just a few hours left on our boat ride, we headed south in search of dolphins, crossing our fingers we'd have slightly better viewing than the air-shy whales we were leaving.

A bit of radioing around, and we splashed right into the inlet where the dolphins were playing that day.

The pod was at least a hundred, maybe hundreds. We jumped in the water straight away, me equipped with my iPhone in a waterproof case,

that proved more difficult to use in the water than I'd thought. I promise, I was just trying to take photos of the dolphins, but couldn't . . . 

see them! 

So many dolphins were visible from the surface, but pods and pods by threes and fours and eights swam by below. It was incredibly beautiful to watch their silent gentle movements in the water, to see their little babies alongside, and to gape as these spinners dove up out of the water, twirling, and danced right back into it. 

Walk took these from the boat before he got into the water, but once he got in, 

I was happy to pass off the confusing technology, 

and float, watching them deep below.

Huge thanks to dad/father-in-law, who took some of these with his underwater camera and shared them with us!

It took my breath away to realize that from the surface, all the fins we saw were a small fraction of the bounty below.

Walk took these closer ones with my iPhone underwater; I can't believe how sharp a phone can shoot underwater still!

They were so playful and friendly, and our captains told us sometimes would swim right next to you if you swam in the same direction. 

The baby dolphins swam alongside the adults, even spinning out of the water (sadly too fast for photos) and it was beyond adorable. The movements of the group were so graceful in tandem, and we could've watched all day. After about 30-45 minutes, we hopped back on the boat, chattering a little out of the warm waters.

Here is a first for the blog: a video from my phone (taken my Walker) of how it felt to swim with the dolphins. You can ses a baby right at the beginning. You can also sortof hear the clicking noises they used to communicate. Enjoy!