Dolphins and Basking sharks!

The two days before I left for home I was lucky enough to see a bottle nose dolphin riding the bow waves in front of our boat. I filmed it in 720p HD and 1920x1080 full HD. A stunningly beautiful and friendly creature.
Following this the day before I came back we were surrounded by Basking sharks.
I started to film them from the bow and had an idea to try and film them underwater.
Although my camera was not set up and needed cleaning and adjusting I threw it together in seconds and jumped in.
Several hours of frustrating and tiring swimming with a large camera the size of a microwave oven was had trying to film the creatures but they were accompanied by juveniles who were scared by the boats of us and now several dive boats getting closer and closer. We left them alone prefering not to drive to close. On spotting another about 28-25 ft long we tried a new tactic of sitting and waiting. We got closer and observed them but swimming in the open water with these graceful freight trains of the sea even with a snorkel and mask is hard. The final attempt eventually paid off when we found a lone pair away from the islands towards Samson less perterbed by the company. using my 3m inflatable tender we used the 2.5HP engine to quietly and slowly get closer to them and I slid in at the last minute.

The following was grabbed from my video camera and shows how magnificent they really are.


The most amazing experience of my life then occured as they swam towards me out of the gloomy green water hoovering up the plankton with their large open mouths.

At least twice my size they looked tiny in the viewfinder of the camera but the amazing Fathom lens of my video camera captured them from full wide to up to six inches from the lens! Daunting enough was the fact I was swimming several miles out to sea with a snorkel and just a single boat within 100m. To follow was the imense size of these miracles of nature, perfect in every way and gliding through the water with minimal effort irrespective of the drag from their open mouths and size close to two cars.

If I had been prepared I could have done much better but the split second decision to jump in with my kit was one of the best I have ever made giving me new respect of the oceans creatures and admiration for their grace and beauty in the water.

Thanks to todd and carmen for hours of patience, good boat handling, local knowledge and determination to help.