Dolphins

[UKCruiser_2008]

How common is it to see dolphins and other sealife from the cruise ship in the Caribbean?

[kujobie]

I've been on 7 cruises and seen dolphins twice. Once was the little grey ones when leaving the port of miami, and once saw about 30 of the big black ones in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.. That was really cool. So, not real common, but we've only had a balcony on two of those cruises and I haven't spent a whole lot of time looking over the edge for animals.. I'm more interested in the animals on the ship.. :)

[Meco21]

I have only seen them once out of 4 cruises and they were still aways from the ship.

[tanyanubin]

I've only been on 2 cruises so far. I saw dolphins in the port at Galveston, and flying fish in the gulf of Mexico. Those were very very cool looking!

[MLAinVA]

We saw dolphins at Port Canaveral the morning we came back from one cruise.

MLA

[-ClevelandRocks-]

We've seen them twice on 4 cruises. Once leaving the harbor at Port Canaveral, and the second time running along the bow of the ship headed to Belize. Lots of flying fish also.

[G'ma]

I've seen dolphins several times; mostly at the bow of the ship where they speed along with us. It's fascinating. Also watched several "playing" off the starboard bow from my balcony while at sea, too.

 

Flying fish are common and always startling when they break the water right in front of you!!

 

Another treat that can be seen sometimes is the ghostly glow of phosphorus! Once in a while, if you are on your balcony or on a dark part of the deck, you can see this phenomenon in the ship's wash and the waves if the sea is choppy. It is so "other-worldly".

[G'ma]

I've seen dolphins several times; mostly at the bow of the ship where they speed along with us. It's fascinating. Also watched several "playing" off the starboard bow from my balcony while at sea, too.

 

Flying fish are common and always startling when they break the water right in front of you!!

 

Another treat that can be seen sometimes is the ghostly-green glow of phosphorus! Once in a while, if you are on your balcony or on a dark part of the deck, you can see this phenomenon in the ship's wash and the waves if the sea is choppy. It is so "other-worldly".

[cruisebie]

We saw about 20-25 of them in August, while we were sitting on our balcony. It was pretty cool! They must have been feeding on something, cause they almost seemed to be in a circle and were coming up and going down.

[onceagain]

We've seen them from the ship while we were in port in Miami.

[Cotton]

I've been lucky to have seen dolphins on almost every cruise. I like going to the frontmost part of the ship, and that's where I've seen most of them, alongside the ship. It's like they're trying to race.:D I've also seen them in the open Gulf waters many times. The flying fish just come from nowhere it seems, and there has always been a lot of them on each cruise. Enjoy our ocean friends!

[terri910]

We have been on 10 Carnival cruises, two NCL cruises, and one RC cruise.

 

I think we have seen dolphins on all but two or three of those cruises (on our Mediterranean cruise, and a couple of our cruises out of Long Beach)...

[Chacooe]

We saw about 20-25 of them in August, while we were sitting on our balcony. It was pretty cool! They must have been feeding on something, cause they almost seemed to be in a circle and were coming up and going down.

 

They were feeding, they were bringing the fish up to the surface, isn't that cool to watch them. They are such a beautiful and graceful animal. Very helpful to humans who have been lost at sea too.

[Chacooe]

Do you see flying fish on the west coast two? I was just wondering.

[welldone60]

We have been lucky. Saw whales in the Sea of Cortez, Dolphins on several cruises, but the highlight of all we have seen was off the cost of Mexico on NCL Star while moving very slowly into port of Manzanilla. While standing on the back of the ship and looking down to see a huge Shark overtake a smaller fish in the wake of the ship.

[GreenValleyDogWalker]

We saw lots of Dolphins all along the Mexican Riviera coast - on our return to LA from the Panama Canal - they followed the ship - and were along-side for almost 1 hour ! - The captain kept making announcements - pointing them out to us - it was great :p

[COMET MOM]

2 Cruise And We Saw Dolphins Twice! On Our Last Cruise I Saw Shark Swimming By The Ship In The Port Of Miami. That Was Cool!:d

[Grayce]

We saw Dolphins when we were sailing out of Galveston and when I was on an excursion in Belize we saw a mom and a baby in the mangroves. The captain of the small boat we were on stopped so we could take pics but they didn't come close to the boat so I only have a really faraway pic.

[CrusinCyndi]

I have never seen Dolphins off the bow of the ship, but I did swim with them and interact with them in Tortola in June of this year...what wonderful creatures!

[grneyedmustang]

I saw some on the way to Key West from Jacksonville. They followed the ship for about a good ten minutes. By the time I got my camera they were gone :(

[red1der1]

I only saw Dolphins while cruising out of Jacksonville on the St. Johns River. They were all over the river. But the water was darker and the dolphins didn't stand out against the water so you can barley see them my pictures.

 

As far as flying fish, is there certain areas you will see the more often??? I am cruising the Bahamas next month and was curious if you will see them in the area or do you have to be further down in the Caribbean to see them??

[Rockportgirl]

Does anyone have a picture of the flying fish? They would probably be hard to get a pic of, but I'd love to see what they look like. Is it easy to tell what they are or could they be mistaken for birds? (my luck, I'd see some and just think it was a flock of seagulls or something... :p )

[spleenstomper]

what is the "ghostly green glow of phosphorous"? I know what P is, just don't understand the context...... thanks.

[theos on the go]

We had been on 2 cruises and I had never seen any dolphins. Although, my family as well as other passengers has seen them. So we are on our third cruise and my husband is sitting at the outside bar on the Elation. I was sitting there telling him how sad I was not seeing a dolphin in the wild. So after a little wait the bartender says "Look there is a dolphin" so I jump up and run to the side of the rail . . . "yelling where's the dolphin" Needless to say everyone at the bar had a good laugh including myself. I guess if you're meant to see one you will :)

 

 

P.S. I'm still looking.

[IKE]

I have cruised 65 times and never myself saw any dolphins while cruising. We have been all over the Caribbean.We are always looking for them especially on sea days.We did see them back off Florida off west coast around Tampa/St. Petersburg in the bay. but not on the ship. Not to say, they are not out there as I didn't spend my entire days looking for them. I am sure there are many. We just never had the luck to spot them.