The highlight of our visit was swimming with a dolphin which had taken to staying in a small area among the boats all day.  It appeared that this was a female, perhaps waiting to calve.  Dolphin anatomy not being our strongest subject, this conjecture could be wide of the mark, but her behaviour was unusual for a wild dolphin.  She repeatedly swam slowly on or near the surface, interspersed with slow dives to the sea bed 15m below.  Although she allowed snorkelers to approach within a few yards, she would then drift away to keep her distance, showing little active interest in her visitors.  I then tried swimming down when she was having a visit to the sea bed and found that swimming parallel using dolphin kicks caused her to approach very closely to investigate my strange behaviour!  Ralph and I took turns to swim with her, ignoring downpours of rain.

 

We also took the opportunity to visit the intact wreck of the former ferry boat, “Lindy”, which sank in 2009 and was near our mooring, but there were few fish to be seen.

 

On our last day, Ralph and Lucy rented a scooter to tour the island while Jane and I walked to the lookout atop Le Chameau (“the Camel”).  The walk up Le Chameau is stiff, but ultimately rewarding.  The views are spectacular and only available to hikers as all motorised vehicles are banned from the area which is a nature reserve. 

 

Having been alerted by Ralph and Lucy to the scenic attractions of the bay at Le Pompierre, Jane and I strolled over to investigate.  The prevailing easterly wind is cooling, but prone to blowing up the sand.  However, it is protected from large waves by the islands covering most of the entrance, and has the benefit of fresh water showers on the beach.  Ralph found a coral reef at the southern end of the bay.

 

Swimming with Dolphin

 

 

Views from Le Chameau

 

Wildlife around Baie La Pompiere