Oh my god! What an experience! It is so obvious that the staff love their job and enjoy sharing this experience with their guests. Even the captain is completely accessible and interacts with the group. He even put out a parade with the dolphins at the end of the day.
We were reminded multiple times by the crew that their goal was to give us a trip of a lifetime and by the end of the first day, they had fulfilled this already. On day two they far exceeded this.
The day started off with an encounter with the mobula rays in a shallow bay. The rays were gathered in a tight group. Schooling is like a tornado going clockwise. As we approached the swirling school started to come up and they started to do flips and jumps. It was totally mesmerizing.
We had non-stop action from 7:30 in the morning for almost a 12-hour day. We had just a little break in the morning.
Who would have believed that an ocean-dwelling mobula ray is able to do such acrobatics? Doing even backflips. Our exceptional divemaster pointed us in the right direction. The pre briefings were very useful so we knew what to expect for the interaction with the different animals, like the mobulas sea lions dolphins and orcas, and whales.
In my thirty-seven years as a marine biologist, I have never had three days such an action-packed encounter.
Blue whales, killer whales, turtles, dolphins, mobula rays, false killer whales, coral reef fish, sea lions, fin whales and we still have three days to go.
All of the days were thrilling but some of our days were so action-packed that we were reluctant to come back for lunch. To our delight the answer was NO PROBLEMO, we were amazed that the Gallant Lady turned into a drive-thru restaurant so we could pick up the lunch and be on our way. Not just a picnic but we had lasagna!
Being the fifth member of this clan, I spend my time cycling and motorcycling and hiking and backpacking in my land yacht. Therefore my first experience of an ocean voyage with friends and family I spent with a masterful crew, experiencing small sea creatures and coral reefs and seabirds and seeing wildlife from mobulas to whales. It has been a trip that exceeded all of my expectations.
- Anderson and Blue clan, USA, onboard the Nautilus Gallant Lady
