Swimming Alongside Dolphins in the Bahamas

The sleek nose of a dolphin nudges your feet. When it surfaces with that wraparound dolphin grin, you rub its head. Then another curious dolphin appears.

These animals display a sense of friendliness, and your instinct is to slip into the water for a playful romp with them. Lately, many visitors to Grand Bahama Island are doing just that.

The “Dolphin Experience” is a one-of-a-kind research project under way at the Underwater Explorers Society (Unexso).

Six Atlantic Ocean bottlenose dolphins are being trained to interact with snorkelers and divers. Visitors can swim with them and take part in their training.

It is expected that in a few months the dolphins will be released daily to swim with divers on an open coral reef. It is the first non-military program of this type.

“These animals are not being trained to perform in a show,” John Englander, Unexso president, said. He hopes that interest in swimming and diving with the dolphins will help support additional dolphin research.

Arrived From Mexico

The six- to seven-foot dolphins arrived from Mexico by chartered plane in February, 1987. They are periodically checked by marine veterinary specialists.

The dolphins are intelligent, loving creatures. They weigh about 225 pounds, and their ages are 3 to 6 years. Each one has its own personality. The usual life span of a dolphin is 20 to 40 years. They eat 20 to 25 pounds of fish a day--herring and others imported from Canada.

Each has a name: Uno, Cayla, Stripe, Robala, Bimini and Lucaya, some of which were winning entries in a name-the-dolphins contest for Grand Bahama Island schoolchildren.

“Once the dolphins are released to swim on the reef,” said Mike Schultz, their trainer, “it’s questionable if they can be considered to be in captivity. If they come back to the pen after a dive, it’s because they want to. They’ll definitely have a choice.”

Early training taught the dolphins simple tasks to get them used to a behavior-reward relationship. Now they are being taught to follow a small boat around the pen next to the Unexso dock. This will be the boat they will eventually follow to and from the reef.

The dolphins glide in a smooth, quiet rhythm, appearing to enjoy each other’s company. They communicate through a variety of whistles, clicks, squeaks and groans.

Swimming up to visitors and making eye contact, their reaction is one of friendly acceptance--neither shy nor aggressive.

“They seem to like physical contact,” one visitor said. “Kind of like a house pet giving strangers a get-acquainted sniff.”

You can swim with the dolphins every day except Saturday.

“Most of these animals are learning extremely fast,” Shultz said. “We may be able to take our first dolphin to the reef sometime this year.”

The dolphin group’s dominant male is Uno. Dolphins are not a fish, but a sea mammal that evolved from land millions of years ago. It has no sense of smell and breathes through a blow hole on top. An umbilical cord is attached it to its mother at birth.

Two Separate Stomachs

A dolphin cannot breathe underwater, and although capable of holding its breath for seven minutes, likes to surface every 20 seconds. It has about 100 cone-shaped teeth used to catch and hold fish but not to chew them. Like a cow, it digests its food in two separate stomachs.

The dolphin’s most interesting feature is its sonar system. While it can see underwater, visibility is limited, so it responds to sounds via pinhole ears behind the eyes.

The bottlenose apparently makes the highest and lowest frequency noises produced by dolphins. Also, according to Navy researchers, they are equipped with the most advanced form of sonar known.

What’s it like to swim with these creatures? “You never feel threatened,” said one swimmer. “If anything, you sense a strong expression of love.”

She reached out to one dolphin, held onto its flipper, and it pulled her along for a short ride. “They feel soft and silky and seem alert and intelligent.”

Another swimmer said: “They seem genuinely happy that we are visiting their world, and appear to be having as much fun as we are.”

Visitors to Unexso, across from the Lucayan Beach Resort and Casino, can swim with the dolphins at 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Up to five people can take part in a 30-minute dolphin seminar and then swim with them. The cost is $40.

At those same hours, for $5 per person, up to 10 people can sit on the pier and take part in an informative dolphin seminar, and can then watch the trainers as they work with the dolphins.

To be an assistant trainer for a day costs $95. From 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Schultz takes on four assistants.

For more information on the “Dolphin Experience” and diving packages, contact Underwater Explorers Society, Box-2433, Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas, phone (800) 992-DIVE.

For details about Grand Bahama Island, contact the Bahamas Tourist Office, 3450 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 208, Los Angeles 90010, phone (213) 385-0033.

Range of Accommodations

Grand Bahama Island has accommodations from budget to luxurious in 18 hotels and inns, plus apartments with kitchens. Rates are lower in the summer season, April 30 to Dec. 16.

The largest resorts are the 965-room Bahamas Princess Resort and Casino, $120 for a single or double, $140 deluxe single or double; the 614-room Holiday Inn, $92 single, $100 double, and the Lucayan Beach Resort and Casino with 247 rooms, $120 single on double.

The Bahamas Princess, in the center of Freeport, has two golf courses, swimming pools, tennis courts, restaurants (including its excellent Cotillion Room) and a beach club. Rooms are in the high-rise Princess Tower and the Princess Resort.

A recent $9.5-million renovation includes the casino and theater, pool landscaping and guest rooms.

Xanadu Beach, $125 single or double, where the late Howard Hughes lived, has 175 deluxe rooms, villas and suites, 61 boat slips, plus a mile-long beach.

Smaller Freeport hotels include the 150-room Castaways Resort, $60 single or double; the 100-room Windward Palms, $68 single, $75 double, and, across the street from the Freeport Towne Shopping Center, the Freeport Inn, $59 single or double. The Silver Sands, $75 single or double, has 144 ocean-front rooms with kitchens and private balconies or patios.

Other smaller hotels include Channel House, $65 single or double, owned by former National Football League cornerback, Mike Bass, and Sun Club, a full-service resort.

A few miles from Freeport lies the Lucaya section of Grand Bahama, where high-rise hotels such as the Holiday Inn and the Atlantik Beach and Corona Club, from $85 to $115, with 123 luxury rooms and 52-split level apartments, front a three-mile strand of beach.

The Lucayan Beach Resort and Casino has 247 water-view rooms, casino, theater cabaret, four restaurants, shopping arcade, two miles of beach and complete marina facilities with 150 boat slips.

The 147-room Lucayan Marina Hotel and Spa, $60 single or double, across the bay, appeals to guests seeking moderately priced accommodations, and they can also use all facilities at the Lucayan Beach Resort and Casino.

For reservations, call a travel agent, or Bahamas Reservations Service toll free (800) 327-0787 or (305) 443-3821.

Gourmet to Takeout Food

Dining in Freeport/Lucaya covers the gamut from gourmet cuisine served in opulent surroundings to al fresco buffets, early-bird specials and fast-food emporiums and takeouts.

Bahamian specialties are conch in fritters, burgers, salads and chowder, spicy peas ‘n’ rice, and grouper, snapper and other local fish. Desserts include soursop ice cream, coconut tarts, guava duff, and “sugar bananas” with an apple flavor.

For ambiance, try casino dining in the Crown Room (jackets required), dinners about $30, at the Bahamas Princess Resort and Casino; the Les Oursins, about $35, for continental cuisine at the Lucayan Beach Resort and Casino.

The Lucayan Room, about $20, is popular with locals and visitors for its buffets, and for its Sunday champagne brunch featuring fashion shows. Escoffien, about $35, at Xanadu Beach offers French cuisine.

The Buccaneer Club, under $20, at Deadman’s Reef specializes in Swiss and native cuisine, and offers sunset dinners amid the beautiful surroundings of one of the oldest restaurants in Grand Bahama.

The Captain’s Charthouse features treetop-level dining, prime rib, steaks, Bahamian lobster, dancing to Calypso music and “early-bird” specials from $6.95. The Stoned Crab, an ocean-front seafood restaurant in Freeport, dinners under $20, specializes in lobster, crab and steaks.

Fast-food aficionados can feel secure with Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Wendy’s and Pizza Hut. Prices are about 25% higher than in the United States.

Reservations are recommended at better restaurants. Ask about the dress codes.