I Swam With Dolphins Here

I was driving along the Eyre Peninsula when I saw the turnoff for Lipson Cove. Someone had told me it might be a good place to swim and snorkel, so I figured I may as well have a look. I can see the ocean ahead. It's a little bit of a washboard-y road. The road was a bit of a bone shaker. A corrugated track causing everything in the van to jostle about and make quite a wreck. Corrugated roads, as they call them here. At the end of the road is a campground beside a pretty beach. Nice little spot. You can drive on the beach here if you like. And it's a nice little place to go for a swim it looks like. Dolphins out there. Yes, there are a few pods of dolphins swimming lazily about, not far offshore. The water was calm and the idea of getting in the water and swimming with them was enticing. Now I wanted to get in and see how close I could get to them. So I grabbed my swim goggles and waded in, hoping I could get close enough to film them underwater. Now where were they? The water wasn't as clear as I had hoped. I just saw the dolphins. They're just right over there. They're getting closer. Let's see if I can get them to come near me. Though it would be difficult for me to get an exact location of the dolphins without a visual sighting, I realized that they knew exactly where I was and how close I was getting to them by using their sonar. Dolphins have a sophisticated sense as well as an intricate language of clicks and whistles. They are one of the most intelligent creatures in the animal kingdom. I was hoping the dolphins would be curious and swim closer to me. They're right there, right ahead of me. I was inching closer. I was within 10 meters now, so I thought I'd see if I could film them underwater. Now where were they? I was so close, but the water just wasn't clear enough. Here I was in the southern ocean chasing after dolphins. How many people can say that that was the highlight of their day? How many people can even say they've done that? Even if I didn't get close enough to film them underwater as I'd hoped, this was a reminder that my life differed from that of the usual person's, and I was appreciative of the dolphins giving me an excuse to swim in the ocean with them. There's the dolphins right out there. I got really close, got really close to swimming with the dolphins. I was about 30 feet away. The water was too murky to really see them while I went underwater. I tried to get as close as I could, but I just couldn't get close enough. I don't know if you can see the fins, the top fins, the dorsal fins on the dolphins there, but they're still just right out there. They're keeping a fin ahead of me every step of the way. Yeah, they were just toying with me, letting me think I could get close to them, and when I got within 10 meters or so, they'd simply keep just ahead of me and out of reach with a gentle stroke or two of their flukes. It looked like some bad weather was coming in. Wow, that cloud looks really ominous. Time to get out of the water. Well, that was cool. I got within 30 feet of the dolphins out on the ocean, so that was a pretty sweet little time. I couldn't get quite close enough to really film them underwater. The water's a little bit too murky, but I gave it a shot. I got really close to the dolphins, so that was fun. Of course, they wouldn't let me get too close. They always seem to be one fin ahead of me. Going through a farm property right now, and just had to shut the gate behind me. I was told I could go down this to a remote little beach, so let's go check it out. It's not too far to the beach. This looks like a nice little beach here. Looks like there's a couple people maybe camping. I'm not sure. Let's have a look around. Yeah, nice. Look at that. And the other side here. This is like a piece of weird art. Some sort of maybe blue-tongued skink mummified in the sand. This beetle's still alive, but he can't seem to escape the swarm of ants, and I better move because I'm in flip-flops, and I'm starting to get them crawling all over me. All right, good luck beetle. Lipson Cove is a pretty nice little spot, I have to say. I like Lipson Cove so much, I decided to make it my home for the night. And I'm actually on private land as far as I know, but I met a guy, and he just said, no worries, just shut the gate. So here I am. There's my view in one direction, and in the other, I've got a small beach cove right down there. And this is the view from my living room. Oceanside dining tonight. Hmm, beautiful ambience. Can't beat it. Looks like we might get a good sunset tonight, too. The colors could light up the clouds. The last rays of sun light up Lipson Cove. Red rain is falling down. It makes me think of some song lyrics from Peter Gabriel's song, Red Rain. Red rain is falling down all over me and the red, red sea. Look at that. It's the sunset I was hoping for. Wow, the sun is rising over the ocean here at Lipson Cove, and I wasn't expecting that, I guess. Quite pretty, though. That's my mobile beachside condo up there. All the people over there had to pay for their campsite. I did not. Fences, fences, fences. Everywhere fences. Bye-bye, beautiful ocean campsite. I'm gonna miss you. Up the hill we go, and we'll head on out. Bye. See you later. Hey, buddy. Good morning. Oh, yeah, okay, I'm bad. Sorry I disturbed your crossing there of the road. I'm glad I didn't run over you. Back to the highway. Don't forget to give me a like in the video, share, and subscribe. Until next time, this is The Rock Hopper. I'll see ya.