Tips on where to spot wild dolphins while on ship

[cjmahal]

hi guys,

 

first time cruiser (boarding Carnival Imagination on Jan 10th, heading to Key West and Cozumel) and i would really love to see wild dolphins while out at sea. do you have any tips on where i should look (front of the ship vs back of the ship, the side of the boat closer to land or the side of the boat closer to open sea, start looking directly after leaving port or wait until out at sea, etc)??

 

i did book an oceanview room (cant afford a balcony but will definitely inquire about an upgrade since i booked a guarantee room) and am hoping to spot some from my window (probably a dumb question but do cruise ship windows open?). any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. would also love to hear some of your experiences with dolphins. thanks again

 

-ceej

[trish1c]

Like people they love to play in the ship's wake. Your best bet is coming into or leaving port.

[cjmahal]

Like people they love to play in the ship's wake. Your best bet is coming into or leaving port.

 

 

thanks Trish! now this is going to sound really dumb i know and again ive never been on a cruise (or that many boats for that matter) before so can you please tell me where the "wake" would be, is that the front or back of the ship? again thanks for your help :)

[wineforhealth]

thanks Trish! now this is going to sound really dumb i know and again ive never been on a cruise (or that many boats for that matter) before so can you please tell me where the "wake" would be, is that the front or back of the ship? again thanks for your help :)

 

no question is ever dumb

 

the wake is to the side of the ship and is caused as it cuts though the water. Hang out on the promanade deck either side so you can look over the railings to view any activity plus you can move easier from the front to the rear of the ship which is Forward to aft to follow any sightings

[cb at sea]

You are quite unlikely to see dolphins while in open waters....yes...they sometimes come alongside, but you'll have better luck spotting them off of a beach...they enjoy swimming along a shoreline.

Va. Beach has dolphins EVERYDAY....just offshore....they have for at least 30 years.

 

You are most likely to see "flying fish" in the wake of the ship, and alongside....not too much sealife is visible in open waters.

[daleb85]

You may see the dolphins soon after leaving port but keep your eyes out as I have also seen sea turtles, whales and one large marlin from an open deck while crusing in open waters. You never know what you may see.

[6rugrats]

and am hoping to spot some from my window (probably a dumb question but do cruise ship windows open?).

-ceej

 

No, they don't.

[klfrodo]

9 cruises

8 Caribbean and 1 Mexican

 

Have seen harbor porpoises while moving through the harbor in a few different ports.

Have seen dolphins/porpoises only 1 time playing in the wake of the ship while at sea and that was the Mexican cruise.

Have never seen a whale.

Flying fish, every time.

[navybankerteacher]

The wake is actually the disturbed water behind the ship - foaming and churning from the ships azipods (propellors). It would be hard to see anything in the wake near the ship. Porpoises are curious -they will often swim along with a ship for quite a while - usually off to one side, nearer the bow than the stern. They are more likely to be seen when near land -- just keeping your eyes open while on deck is the best bet, as it is hard to see that wide an area from a cabin window.

[Capt_BJ]

these sea mammals often like to ride the bow wave and the pressure ridge immediately at the bow. Many times they can be observed appoaching the ship quickly from the side but when they disappear to most, it is usually because they are right up under the bow flare.

 

You CAN find amazing sea life in the middle of deep ocean, as I did one day in the Pacific

 

[kitty9]

In all my cruises in the Caribbean--more than 30---, I've never seen dolphin, and we always have a cabin at the very back of the ship, where the dolphin seem to like to play. Flying fish, yes, once even a shark, but not dolphin. The one place we saw lots and lots of dolphin is on a Mexican Riviera cruise. Now there, we saw dolphin nearly every day, jumping around the wake at the back of the ship.

 

We also saw dolphin and whales on a Hawaii cruise.

Edited December 30, 2010 by kitty9

[Capt_BJ]

had to look around but found my picture looking straight down from the bow

 

[travlnblueberries]

If you want to see dolphins my DH suggests the following...

 

Get up early in the morning...

Forget your camcorder and/or camera

And make sure no one is around

[kathcoll]

had to look around but found my picture looking straight down from the bow

 

what a great shot!!!!

[klfrodo]

had to look around but found my picture looking straight down from the bow

 

 

That's the shot of a lifetime :D

[Toto2Kansas]

The largest pod of dolphins we have ever seen from a ship was sailing out of NYC (believe it or not). There had to be 100 of them and they would go from port to starboard underneath the ship like they were playing.

We have seen a few sailing past Christmas Island in the South Pacific, but we have yet to see any sailing to the eastern or western Caribbean. Good Luck though!

[publius]

Like people they love to play in the ship's wake.

 

They let people play in the ship's wake?? :eek: ;)

[ricew001]

Ceej I hope you Enjoy your cruise! I know you will. I'm about to take my 3rd one ever and my first to the Caribbean!

Come to North Carolina - specifically Beaufort. For $35 you can take a boat tour where you will see so many dolphins. We go down several times a year and feel so lucky that we are so clase. It is a fabulous, inexpensive trip! that holds us over in between cruises....;-)

[trish1c]

They let people play in the ship's wake?? :eek: ;)

 

Ok Ok, people play in the wake of boats & dolphins play in the wake of ships.

[cjmahal]

these sea mammals often like to ride the bow wave and the pressure ridge immediately at the bow. Many times they can be observed appoaching the ship quickly from the side but when they disappear to most, it is usually because they are right up under the bow flare.

 

You CAN find amazing sea life in the middle of deep ocean, as I did one day in the Pacific

 

 

wow captain bj is that a manta ray? just beautiful!

[cjmahal]

had to look around but found my picture looking straight down from the bow

 

 

 

this is even more amazing! wow captainbj you def got a great shot! the bow is the front of the ship right? ill def be hanging out around there as much as possible.. but even if i dont to see dolphins, ill just be happy to be on the sea.. i was born on an island, and now live in chicago and miss the ocean very much. thanks so much for sharing!

[cjmahal]

Ceej I hope you Enjoy your cruise! I know you will. I'm about to take my 3rd one ever and my first to the Caribbean!

Come to North Carolina - specifically Beaufort. For $35 you can take a boat tour where you will see so many dolphins. We go down several times a year and feel so lucky that we are so clase. It is a fabulous, inexpensive trip! that holds us over in between cruises....;-)

 

thanks so much for all the great advice everybody! i'll def report back after my cruise and let you if i spot any dolphins.. hopefully ill have an a picture like captainbj's to share from my first cruise (only 6 days away!!)

 

ricew001 thanks for the awesome tip about NC.. i have a friend who moved there for school, im thinking its time to pay her a lil visit!

Edited January 4, 2011 by cjmahal

[Haoie]

Seeing a huge pod [over 100] of dolphins was possibly the best part of my Paradise cruise a few weeks ago!

 

That happened while tendered at Catalina Isle, BTW, Dec 14.

[serowland]

hi guys,

 

first time cruiser (boarding Carnival Imagination on Jan 10th, heading to Key West and Cozumel) and i would really love to see wild dolphins while out at sea. do you have any tips on where i should look (front of the ship vs back of the ship, the side of the boat closer to land or the side of the boat closer to open sea, start looking directly after leaving port or wait until out at sea, etc)??

 

i did book an oceanview room (cant afford a balcony but will definitely inquire about an upgrade since i booked a guarantee room) and am hoping to spot some from my window (probably a dumb question but do cruise ship windows open?). any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. would also love to hear some of your experiences with dolphins. thanks again

 

-ceej

 

 

Make sure you take some binoculars with you. We were on a whale watching excursion one time in Mexico and on our way back to shore, the captain of the boat saw a school of dolphins a ways ahead of us. He started going faster and we caught up with them. It was so cool. There literally must have been 100 of them and they swam right along side our boat on both sides, diving in and out of the water. I had my video camera and took a video of the whole thing. It was absolutely amazing! Good luck! I hope you spot some.

[Capt_BJ]

Yep that's a Manta, was a good 8 feet from wing tip to wing tip.

 

Funny thing is we were stopped in the middle of the ocean on a great afternoon and I let the crew go swimming. A couple of dozen were swimming on the port side when I took a look around (shark watch) and saw this playing around on the other side. I was fairly confident that if it were to cross under the ship I've have a rather interesting reaction from many of the swimmers. I knew it wasn't dangerous but didn't exactly have time to explain that to those who'd never see a ray before. It hung around in our shadow for about 5 minutes then went deep.

 

In the open ocean, all sorts of things will be drawn to anything casting a shadow. That's why 'weed lines' are good fishing spots. First small bait fish go there to hide, then come the feeders. Typically a great place to find Mahi. Deep water ocean weather bouys are usually worth checking too. Of course you're not exactly gonna get a cruise ship to do this but just sharing some info.