Tarawa is an atoll, tiny strips of sand forming a ring around a large lagoon. The main centers of Betio and Bairiki are now joined by a causeway about three miles long. The unfortunate consequence of this is that the water flow has been restricted so that this part of the lagoon is not flushed out sufficiently. The anchorage is infested with the byproducts of a population of 30,000. You do not swim here!
We arrived on a Saturday and cleared customs but would have to wait until Monday for Immigration and provisioning. The question was what to do with Sunday in such a place. Another yacht we have been traveling with, Tauranga, was here. Marc and Tiri came over for pancakes and we contemplated the options. We decided to take Blue Moon out of the lagoon, and drift in the clear blue ocean for the day. It was mirror calm, hot and perfect for swimming. Just as we cleared the pass, we saw a lot of splashing ahead. Investigation with the binoculars determined a school of dolphins were frolicking. As we got closer we realized there were of hundreds of them. They came towards the boat to play in our bow wave. We stood up there encouraging them. Then we cut the motor and jumped in to swim with them. They weren’t too sure about us and kept their distance, eventually moving off looking for another playmate.
Marc jumped in his dinghy and zoomed out to the school. They immediately took up the challenge, leaping out at the bow in twos or threes. He herded them back to us, and we watched with snorkels from the peanut gallery as they passed close to us. But coming close seemed to spook them again and they moved further away. Tiri took a turn in the dingy and soon appeared to be drifting far out on the horizon. We thought it best to take Blue Moon over in case she had run out of gas. No, she was just drifting there with dolphins coming up all around her for a look. The pack played around our bows again and it was so frustrating not to be able to just jump in and play with them. Eventually we were hot again and stopped for another swim. This time a few came a little closer, feeling a little more comfortable with us after over an hour of play.
Both sides eventually became bored with the game, we needed a beer and I guess the dolphins went off in search of lunch. As we were lazing in the ocean, Tiri commented that this is what we came for, it’s what the brochure promised – clear blue water filled with dolphins.
