Dolphin Swimming Time!

ok up early! bus picks us up..when we finally found it! then we head off from perth to rockingham, pleasant journey nice country side.

arrive to the boat and there probably 25 ppl in total.

crew are young and confident and fun!so its not lon g til we are all suited up in our flattering wet suits and ready to go! and after about 15 minutes we find some dolphins, so me and marty are in the first lot of teams to go out in the water, probably 6 ppl to a team and then your crew member leading u, the idea is you hold on to the person in front of you on their belt, the crew member has a yellow motor that helps him swim in the water without splashing int he water as that would upset the dolphins and they wouldnt want to play or socialise.

so we are in the water and it is shockingly cold, face in the water with the scuba mask on and my breathing is fast and shallow due to the shock of the cold water. dont see the dolphins this time so back on the steps of the boat to follow them where ever they have went and then we are in again inside 5 mins and we see them but they are moving quick so back onto the steps of the boat again and we are off again to follow them, 3rd time lucky and we are in the water and we have good visibility of about 4 fully grown dolphins and 2 big calves swimming under us in the water, under the dolphins is a massive black shape, a sting ray travelling along the ocean floor, we are in the water with the dolphins for up to 10 minutes and we can watch a crew member swimming below us socialising and playing with the dolphins, they arent far away and altho u dont touch them u probably could!we hop back in the boat when they get bored and the next half of the boat get ready to go out for their turn!

so i have decided i have had enough of the freezing cold water and that i was happy with my turn out in the water, marty continues to go out when he can and actually a pod of dolphins shows up with a calf that was possibly 2 days to a week old! very cute and the lines on its stomach are there to show u how young it is. marty got a good turn with tis pod and the calf appeared to be the reason they stayed for so long, it seemed intrigued by the swimmers and wanted to be social.

marty came back in the boat and the next team went out again, we followed this pod for a while and then we got a shock, there was 3 teams in the water of about 5 ppl each and the girl doing the video was out swimming and the guy would had been playing with the dolphins earlier had handed over to the next eldest of the team, a 20 yr old girl, very enthusiastic about her job, so she was down playing with the dolphins and then the dolphins werent about so she popped up and then was told to head back down again to find them because they werent on the surface anywhere so she went back down and then there was a lot of splashing on the surface in the middle of the swimmers, a large man appeared to have been hit by a dolphin and was face down in the water, we thought possibly knocked out but in fact the girl in question had been attacked by a shark, the shark had come from beneath her and bit the back of her thighs pushing her down into the water but the large man grabbed the shark by the tail and the shark let go of the girl and the man then popped his head back up for air and then went down again for her, the girl did not come up looking for air she came up screaming, the man pulled her back throught he water to the boat and then she was put on the step of the boat while everyone in the water including two boys under 12 and a pregnant woman scrambled back onto the boat. eventaully a member of the paying publi took the initaiative to carry her into the boat away from further danger.

this had been the companies 1st shark attack and they have been swimming with dolphins for 22 yrs. unfortunately the young crew had no procedure in place for this happening and we found them standing around unsure of what to do, thankfully there was a paramedic on the boat (a woman from belfast) and she took control over the situation using the belts we were wearing to stop blood flow thro the girls thighs, needless to say there was blood everywhere and most were standing by in shock including me and marty. the girl screamed lots and lots and there was no suitable bandages in the boat for her bleeding, we all handed towels over to help soak up blood and be held against the wounds to help stop the bleeding.

we travelled to a navel port near by to wait on the air ambulance, in the meantime we were joind by a small boat called the fremantle sea rescue which had nothing more than a first aid kit but mozzie bites and cuts and bruises.

then the naval ambulance showed up and they had canulas etc but needed permisson to use them, i can imagine the paramedic was confused and irritated! eventually the helicopter with paramedics who could actually use the equipment they had arrived and the girl was eventually airlifted. the rest of us travelled on the boat back to rockingham where the media awaited our arrival! so me and marty made it onto the news lol and the girl is fine and expected to make a full recovery, she had roughly 10 to 15 large teeth bites in each thigh and during her surgery according to the news a tooth was found inbedded in her thigh, also according to the news it was a 3 metre great white which according to one of those in the water the shark was about the same size as the girl so possibly 1m 50. very long shocking day.

eventually we got back to fremantle and picked up my phone and then back to perth where we got organised to head to leederville for dinner, leederville was nice, some shops still open late on and a pleasant environment with late nite cafes not just bars!

so my advice if ur going to perth, stay in fremantle or just not the city centre, and once in 22 yrs for a shark attack is pretty good percentage so yes try the swimming with dolphins and be happy your in a group in the water because they do single u out if u swim alone ie the girl was swimming alone