Kenya: Swimming With Dolphins
As I have mentioned before, I truly feel whole when I’m swimming in the ocean. It’s when I feel the most content and free, where I feel like I can let myself go without worries. That’s why I was so excited to go snorkelling for the first time off the coast of Mombasa (around the Shimoni coast), swim in a whole new ocean and see some fish.
It was all planned quite last minute, which means I had no idea what the day had in store for me except that I would go snorkelling, something I had never done before and had no idea if I would truly enjoy it. But hey, worst case scenario I still got to swim around and that sounded amazing to me.
A car came to pick us up pretty early (6 a.m.? Can’t remember.) and we headed on our 2-hour journey to where we would find the boat. They handed us an envelope with the confirmation for us to get on that boat and our group headed on over to the ocean.
We got on a small boat with everyone which quickly took us to a bigger boat, a small ship. We got on and headed towards the open sea. The day was getting a little darker and I was fearing it would start raining, which it did for a little while but quickly stopped. We kept on going further into the ocean, around an Island where we were told we would have lunch later (exciting!), and the whole time I had no idea where we were headed or what exactly we were doing, and that just made me enjoy this experience even more. I was able to enjoy the moment without thinking ahead into what we were doing next.
As we were approaching the spot where we would be snorkelling, we were told some dolphins were going past us. This was really exciting as I had never need dolphins out in the open ocean and I couldn’t wait. Indeed, a group of dolphins was swimming alongside us and we were able to see them and take a lot of pictures of this beautiful animal.
We finally reached the location, where the sun was shining and not one cloud was in sight. I put my swimming gear on and jumped into the water, finally feeling at home once again! We were told to always stay with the group and headed on over to take a look at the fish. Our guides were incredible and showed us so many different fish and sea creatures (no, I did not take an underwater camera with me and I don’t regret it, as I was truly in the moment during this experience), but the best moment happened when they made us all stop.
We were then told that, possibly, some dolphins were going right past us and that we’d be able to swim with them for a little bit, if we were lucky. Apparently, it’s a very rare occasion and immediately got really excited that this would happen. Within around 30 seconds I saw two dolphins going past us. I dove and swam alongside them for a little while, keeping in mind that I couldn’t leave the group too far behind. The group quickly fell far behind, so I stopped swimming with the dolphins and started wondering why everyone was swimming so slowly and still headed my way. I dove once again to see what was going on and saw another dolphin swim right underneath me. I got to stare at it and fully admire it as it past me.
So, that is the story of how I got to swim with dolphins off the coast of Kenya, and what an amazing experience from start to finish it was. If only I could do things like that every day ❤
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Disquiet Thoughts 
You’re brave I think. I know it sounds rather pathetic but swimming in the open ocean is not something I enjoy. I think it over too much and end up convincing myself that something is inevitably on its way up from the depths to get me! Even the expanse of the ocean I find overwhelming – beautiful and breathtaking absolutely – but overwhelming nonetheless! 🙂
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I just grew up surrounded by the ocean, that’s probably why I’m more comfortable with it 🙂 But here the water was very clear and not too deep, so we could see everything around. Plus, we were ensured there were no sharks around 😉
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Haha how well you knew I was referring to sharks!! I mean I grew up on an island too, and relatively close to the sea but I guess in Ireland it is always too cold to go anywhere near the water. Perhaps actually that’s where some of my discomfort comes from: the sea from my childhood is something you stay away from – high waves, extreme cold and stories of storms. Interesting!
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Ah yeah I guess not so much in Ireland. Try going to paradise beaches first and maybe you’ll get used to it, the ocean is not really that scary of a place once you feel at home with it 😉
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I would have been so excited for this opportunity! The closest thing I’ve done is kyack with the dolphins. It was also an amazing experience! We had to go out over the waves which was a bit tricky, but I got it on the first try, I was so excited! My bf got in on his third try (he wasn’t leaning forward into the wave). We got out just past where everyone is swimming and went down the coast. We were with professionals so we got pictures and videos. It was a time I’ll never forget. 🙂
When we were out there, my bf fell out of his kyack because he was looking back at me as a wave came through 😂
My guy is a little heavy set and I never thought I’d see him climb back into his kyack so fast! It must have been terrifying. I couldn’t stop laughing after the shock passed.
Good times 🐬
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hahah I love that! Kayaking would also be amazing, have never done that. To be honest, anything to do with the ocean for me would be awesome!
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That sounds like such an incredible, once in a lifetime type of experience! I used to feel the same way in the water when I was swimming as well, as I got older I stopped swimming and that feeling went away which is quite sad now that I think about it.
Julia // http://www.thesundaymode.com
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It’s all about making opportunities 🙂 even if there is a swimming pool around, it can definitely make that feeling come back 😉
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Much fun for you.. Well, I have never thought that swimming in the ocean is much fun, for me it kind of scary so I prefer a swimming pool…. 😁😁😁😁.. But who knows I can try it one day maybe when I improve in my swimming skills. Interesting post.
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Swimming pools are great too 😉 I prefer the freedom of the open ocean but I can totally see why it’s scary 🙂
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Being Australian doesn’t necessarily mean you grow up at the beach but I certainly spent my childhood summers there and have been dolphin watching at Monkey Mia in Western Australia. I didn’t manage to swim with dolphins there but I did swim with a giant turtle and that was incredible. We were in each other’s orbit, to use a word you like, fleetingly.
Your opportunity sounds amazing and I can’t understand why the other people didn’t throw themselves into the experience. |Such a pity.
Best wishes,
Rowena
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Swimming is an awesome sport.
I wonder if the fish would wish to walk…
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