Dolphins, flying fish or other sightings

[Daphne'sMom]

Does anyone tips for best chance at spotting dolphins or other sea life? We will be cruising the end of April out of Miami to Amber Cove, St Thomas, San Juan & Grand Turk. In 10 cruises, I have only see dolphins twice and both times they were alongside the front of the ship. They apparently don't read the articles that say they are usually sighted swimming in the wake:D I have seen flying fish on several of our cruises.

 

This will be my mom's first cruise and I know she would love to be able to try to see or attempt to photograph these elusive creatures.

[Drazil65]

Dolphins are typically in harbor or port coming and going so keep your eye out when you are about to port during your trip. Flying fish we see all the time from our balcony especially in the morning when we are enjoying coffee. We have only seen sea turtles when on a pier closer to land I believe, its been a while since we have seen one though on a cruise. We see them more often here, off the coast of NC when walking on one of the piers so we do not need to go far from home to experience that one. :)

[Hadiez]

I agree with Drazil65. I have only been on 2 cruises with a 3rd upcoming but we have seen tons of flying fish and we did see a shark on our last cruise from the Lido deck! Random luck I think...

[chengkp75]

Dolphins in the wake are only common in shallow areas like entering/leaving port where the propeller wake stirs up fish that the dolphins feed on. At sea, it is far more common to see them riding the bow wave, as this is an "energy saving" device for them (the wake pulls the dolphins along), and is considered by experts to be "fun" and "play" for the dolphins.

[Sitzmark]

We haven't seen dolphin from the cruise ships however we did see a lot of dolphin from a small boat we rented near Tampa bay. We have seen flying fish on cruise ships and we saw a sea turtle at Castaway Cay on our Disney cruise.

[Buckimion]

Plenty at the cruise port in Jacksonville. :D

[spleenstomper]

Saw a shark from our aft dining room table in the wake of the ship on a sea day. That was cool.

[RachelC33]

We saw dolphins on our cruse ship last week. It was really quite the sight. My daughter and I were sitting out on deck 3 watching all the flying fish (there were 100s of them), and then spotted dolphins jumping in and out of the wake right next to the ship. They were so close and the water was soooo smooth, almost glass like. Beautiful. It was really cool.

[sparks1093]

We've seen dolphins twice from our mid-ship balconies. I think we've seen flying fish every sailing. Lots of sea birds diving into the water catching fish.

 

On my last Navy ship we were in the Caribbean and one day we were tasked with doing a towing exercise. While we were in the process of that a large school of Golden Rays swam underneath the ship. It was an awe inspiring sight.

[mrsfuzzmo]

I think we've only seen dolphins while in port on departure day in Miami, Galveston (tons there), Port Canaveral, etc. We see flying fish almost every day. Never saw a whale or a shark, but we've seen a lot of sea turtles. Best chance of that is while you are in port and looking over the side. We've seen them in Cozumel, Costa Maya and a LOT in St. Maarten. I don't think I've seen a ray from a ship, but we don't watch over the sides all that much. Mostly coming into and out of ports.

[Jamericannn]

The best place to see those, including whales, is to take and Alaskan Cruise. You won't have to wonder if you will see them. It's a matter of how many.

[cb at sea]

Go to Virginia Beach...they swim just offshore at least twice daily...huge pods of them! If you take a sailboat out, they are likely to swim around you! Very cool!

It's very hard to see much sea life while cruising....flying fish are the most common sight while at sea. You may see dolphins close to shore....generally, you won't see them in open waters.

[helene109]

Great? Thinking about bringing binoculars too! We saw a lot on the Mississippi River too

 

 

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[steve4031]

What are high lights of the trip down the Mississippi. I'm on the dream in August.

 

 

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[helene109]

A must to see the sights as you are leaning all the oil tankers and so much it should leave at 4 you should see most of it before dinner!!

 

 

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[Kanyon71]

I used to see a lot of dolphins when I would go on the forward facing treadmills early in the morning. Was a cool thing to be running in place staring out at the water and see the dolphins jumping out in front of the ship. :)

[Drazil65]

On my last Navy ship we were in the Caribbean and one day we were tasked with doing a towing exercise. While we were in the process of that a large school of Golden Rays swam underneath the ship. It was an awe inspiring sight.

 

That is cool!!!

[sparks1093]

On my last Navy ship we were in the Caribbean and one day we were tasked with doing a towing exercise. While we were in the process of that a large school of Golden Rays swam underneath the ship. It was an awe inspiring sight.

 

That is cool!!!

 

What made it cooler was we were going very slow, as were they, and we were going in the same direction so they were under us for quite a while.

[spleenstomper]

Around 10:30 when they turn all of the outside lights on, get over as fast as you can to port side and watch the pilot boat come up and watch the river pilot jump off the cruise ship on to the pilot boat. We clap. He waves.

[Loudermont]

Saw dolphins once shortly after leaving Cape Canaveral. They were not very close to the ship. On a different note.. while docked in Nassau in 2007 we did see a huge stingray swimming around the ship in the opposite side from the dock.. that was super cool!

 

 

Have had the pleasure to enjoy:

Carnival Celebration 07

Carnival Victory 16

Carnival Valor 17

[Daphne'sMom]

What a nice surprise. I quick posted this on my way out to work this morning and came home to all of these answers. I really appreciate the helpful replies.

 

The wildlife that we did see up close and personal on the Breeze a couple years back....we had an aft facing balcony and while we were at one of the ports someone up a floor or two from us had sandwiched on their balcony. Apparently they were swarmed by seagulls so threw their sandwich. Of course the sandwich landed on our balcony and we immediately inherited about 20 seagulls for what seemed like an eternity.

[cajunfla]

What are high lights of the trip down the Mississippi. I'm on the dream in August.

 

 

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It's about 8 hours to the Gulf from NOLA. Lots to see, but most won't have any real idea what they are looking at because they aren't familiar with the area. I loved it as I grew up around NOLA.

[bakersdozen12]

Flying fish seem to be most common early in the morning, after sunrise.

 

 

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[MauiLvrs]

Spend time outside ondeck ... keep your eyes open and see what shows up.

 

 

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[USNUZULOOSE]

Me and hubby take the binoculars and we watch for whales. We really enjoy it. We could sit and watch all day. We have seen them but they were not near the ship.