We knew the week was off to a good start in lovely Bunaken when we were surprised by a pod of dolphins swimming and playing on the surface. While it is not uncommon to see dolphins in Bunaken, it is always a welcome treat!

Returning from what had already been a great dive on the sloping wall of Sachiko, filled with turtles and Napoleon wrasse, we had just settled in for the journey back to the dive centre when our guest Mark spotted them from the bow of the boat.

About 100 meters ahead, at least 20 dolphins were breaching the surface. We cruised closer and the pod started coming towards the boat and spent a good 15 minutes just playing around the bow, racing the boat and breaching the surface. Quite a magical experience!

More dolphins kept playing nearby. After a while they seemed to have had enough and started swimming off. Our captain revved the engines and back they came. The race was on! Spurred on by the speed of the boat, ‘our’ dolphins started racing each other and the boat for a few more minutes. Simply and amazing way to end a morning’s diving!

Watch this space on Facebook, we’ll be posting a bit of video footage in the next few days.