I could not miss the opportunity to take a look at them. I found, as advertised, giant tortoises, marine iguanas, Darwin's finches and much more besides, but what I did not expect to encounter was a huge school of bottlenose dolphins.
On day two in the islands, with some friends I was on a diving and snorkeling trip off the islet of North Seymour a few miles north of Santa Cruz, the main island. The divers just gone into the water and I noticed a boiling on the horizon which before long had reconciled itself into explosions of breath and distinctive sickle-shaped dorsal fins cutting through the water and heading in out direction.
The boat was gently motoring away from the dive site and the line of dolphins passed swiftly by the divers - who caught quick views of their number as they passed by - and as we motored on, I could see their face breaking the waves as they determinedly came in our direction. Soon we were surrounded by tens of grey bodies cutting swiftly through the waters and throwing up considerable spray. Some paralleled us and others came under the bow to ride on the pressure wave there. What was remarkable was the sheer number of animals. I estimated as many as a hundred in this one group. Even the crew - who often take trips out into these waters - were impressed. They had never seen such a gathering. Another small boat came over to look at the dolphins and the school split with some going across to the new boat. After a few amazing minutes the dolphins moved rapidly on and away out of sight.
Compared to their Scottish cousins, these bottlenoses of warm equatorial waters appeared about the same size and equally robust. Many of their dorsal fins were sharply pointed and I could see the same kind of rake-marks that we see on British dolphins but very little sign of major scars or damage. In fact they looked very well!
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