swim with dolphins  Mikurajima Dolphin Swim Tour

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More than 30 years since I started swimming with dolphins from the genesis of Mikurashima Dolphin Swim

It is thanks to the dolphins and everyone that I have been able to start a shop because I love dolphins and have been able to come so far even though I struggled.

Instead of my introduction, here is the history of dolphin swimming so far? I'm going to introduce you.

It's a little long, but please read it if you're interested.

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Mikurashima is now an island where you can play with dolphins, but dolphins did not play with them from the beginning.

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My first encounter with dolphins on Mikurashima was in 1988. It was the year that whale watching tours began in Ogasawara and the movie Great Blue (later renamed Gran Blue) was released.

At that time, in Miyakejima, where I was diving, a fisherman (the captain of the boat diving at that time was a fisherman) said, "If you go to the neighboring Mikurashima, there are dolphins, but would you like to see them?" is.

 

At that time, I could only see the dorsal fin from the boat.

There's not even a word like "dolphin swim". Even if I ask the captain, "Can I swim?" (smile)

After all, there was no one who said, "I've done it before," and even if I went into the sea, I was like, "What should I do?" It was a story like a grand romance.

 

Well, dolphins were originally cautious wild animals. Even if you enter the sea, you will run away quickly and you will not be able to see the shadow or shape. At that time, there were no dolphin swim boats, so we chartered a fishing boat, but the cost of one charter was over 100,000 yen. I couldn't pay for it by myself, so I called out to my friends and acquaintances and split the boat fare, which is the beginning of the dolphin tour.

 

At first, I was overjoyed just to be able to see dolphins in the water from a distance!

At that time, my goal was to “swim while holding onto the dorsal fin” (laughs). What happened?

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In the human world, people enjoy watching dolphin shows, so why not perform in the ocean? So, spinning and dancing in the water? You can dive wearing a dolphin headgear, make a wet suit with a white belly so that the dolphin will consider you a friend, dive with a simple cylinder that you can hold in your mouth, and what color is your swimsuit? What color are the fins? I have tried various things. There is no school that teaches skin diving, so the training place is exclusively the beach in Shonan ♪

Under such circumstances, the dolphins seemed to have received the spinning in the water, and some dolphins approached with interest. This was the beginning of what we now call 'playing with dolphins.' It was a great feeling when I was able to swim in a group for the first time.

 

While I was doing this, a “dolphin tour” started at a diving shop on Miyakejima. In the beginning, it was a part of the diving tour and it was a struggle, but we started accepting people other than divers, and while it was being featured in the media, there was an unprecedented dolphin boom in the mid-1990s. I'm coming.

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Nowadays, if there are too many people, will the dolphins be adversely affected? There are concerns, but the number of people these days is not the ratio of now. Hundreds of people come every day on tours organized by major travel agencies. Not only Miyake Island, but also ships from other Izu Islands and Izu Peninsula come. And they are all big boats. The dolphins must have been very noisy too.

 

Observational research on dolphins began on Miyakejima, led by the late Professor Jack Moyer and Dr. Catherine Dazynski. A study group was established on Mikurashima Island, and individual identification surveys were also conducted.

At that time, Mikurashima was not on the route of Tokai Kisen, so the only lifeline was a cargo ship from Miyakejima once or twice a week. There were also dolphin boats in Mikura, but they were very few, and the guesthouse seemed to be for construction workers and workers rather than tourists.  

 

As for the dolphins, although they gradually became able to swim nearby, baby and juvenile dolphins did not come to our side at this time.

Even if a child with strong curiosity tries to come near, the mother dolphin quickly intervenes and takes her away.

However, one year, the dolphin that had played with me the previous year became a mother and came right up to me with her baby. Did you come to introduce your child? Only this time, I almost burst into tears in the sea. Since then, it has become an annual event for mothers who have given birth to come to see me.

 

In the summer of 2000, when the dolphin boom reached its peak, Miyakejima suddenly erupted. Island-wide evacuation. And the end of the dolphin boom.

However, Tokai Kisen began to call at Mikurashima, although the lifeline from Miyakejima disappeared, although not every day.

General tourists can now come to the island, and from 2001 the dolphin swim base will move to Mikurashima. Mikurashima began accepting tourists in earnest, and the number of guest houses gradually increased.

 

In 2005, the island-wide evacuation of Miyakejima was lifted, and the people of Miyakejima gradually returned. With this as an opportunity, rules for dolphin watching between Miyake and Mikura have been established, and eco-tourism is now being carried out with the aim of coexistence between dolphins and humans, such as limiting the number of boats and the number of people per day.

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From now on, I would like to keep in mind the dolphin-friendly dolphin swim, and stay on an island where I can be with dolphins forever.

See you on Mikurashima (^o^)/~

 

Since 2013, in search of encounters with white-sided dolphins, which are rare in the world,Dolphin swim tour in Higashiizu/Futoalso started.

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not only dolphinshumpback whale,sea lion,dugong,killer whale,blue whaleWe also offer tours where you can meet marine mammals such as Please join us in exploring the world's oceans!

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