Today exemplified the all-or-nothing nature of my chosen pastime. Six hours of offshore paddling with hardly any wildlife to see at all. A couple of Gannets, a single Common Scoter and a handful of Sandwich terns fishing at the mouth of the Teign estuary. My enthusiasm dipped, my arms began to ache and I could feel a yawn coming on.
The sea was so calm I would have seen a fin a long way off, or heard the piff of a porpoise. But nothing. Until…….
Far away between me and the shore I could just see the red shape of a wildlife-watching RIB cruising slowly round in circles, and I knew they must be looking at something. As I slowly paddled closer I knew it must be something interesting because it stayed there for a long time…and I suspected dolphins. So I cranked up the speed and then glimpsed the sun sparkling off the back of a large number of dolphins that were heading straight towards me. I primed the cameras and waited for their arrival. They didn’t disappoint.
It was a school of twenty-five to thirty with at least a few calves in amongst them. I was hoping a posse might come over to say hello, but suddenly all hell broke loose. The entire lot disappeared from view for a second and then all exploded from the surface simultaneously. I recorded the splashes on the Gopro and the image is reminiscent of the scene in Das Boot when the German submarine gets strafed by a Spitfire.
They then reformed and proceeded to cruise about in a (slightly) more relaxed state:
And then they were off again at top speed. I think they even gained some ground on a jetski that was skittering past in the far distance (which could have done with a bit of strafing)
For a final fling they put on a supreme display, all conveniently down-sun to assist my photographic efforts. I don’t know how fast they were moving but it must have been thirty mph. You can see Teignmouth in the background at the end.
Wow. I have never had such a good view of a pod of speeding dolphins, apart maybe the school of about fifty offshore Bottlenose dolphins last December at Penzance, when my camera decided to freeze!
Thanks to the dolphins my day ended up fantastically exciting; without them it would have been thunderously tedious.
When I got back near the shore Teignmouth seafront was buzzing with August activity:
and Shaldon was even busier because the regatta was in full swing.
Dolphin fatigue…..never!
The Lone Kayaker 