Dolphins meet kayaks

The beach that greeted us when we arrived

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There she blows!!!

As we pointed in their direction, we hear their unmistakable sound.

PUH~ *squirt*

‘Ahoy, hurry up your rowing mateys! Or I’ll have your heads instead!!!’shouts the Captain.

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Nope, this is not a scene from Moby Dick. That, was the scene from my trip yesterday, in a ‘secret’ location in Kuching we were blind-folded all the way to our destination, except that the captain and the crews were on kayaks instead of boats and the captain was wearing a yellow lifejacket with a picture of a stickman holding a kayak in one hand and an oar in another.

Meet Francis Ho.

Francis Ho himself

He’s perhaps one of the coolest over 40 dude I’ve ever came across. Hehe. Yet his unmatched strength while carrying the kayak put me, a person half his age, to shame. On the waters, he’s an amazing kayaker. While I was paddling like mad trying to catch up, all he had to do was just raise his oar and add a few swing and he’ll be way, way in front of me. He not only kayaks, but he also has his own blog (with lots of pictures of skies, waters and puppies.) and has his own kayaking company.

'Surge' kayak owned by Francis

This trip that we’re on was the dolphin watching trip. Dolphins? Got dolphins in Kuching meh? I get that almost from everyone I tell them. I’ve heard so much about this trip, so I wanted to see those lovely creatures for myself and to find them here in Kuching itself makes it all the sweeter. With us was Laura, a fellow Sabahan but now working in Singapore, and Bev, Kuchingite engineer and triathlon athlete.

*For more pictures and stories, click here.

Fishermen at sea

Signs were good when we arrived at the place. Weather was fine, fishermen were out. So, it was a tall tale sign that chances of spotting dolphins today was all time high. And true enough, after perhaps few minutes on the waters, we spotted them.


Francis: 12 o’clock!!!!
Ivan: Where???? I can’t see them!
Bev: 12 o’clock!!!
Ivan: Whereeeeee?????? Ohhhhh I see!!! I see!!!

Francis and Laura in the other kayak

Since this was my first time seeing a dolphin in the wild, I couldn’t help being awed by these wonderful creatures. Though quite far, you can clearly hear their distinctive sound that they make.

See the fin?

PUH~ - water coming out of the nostril.

These are Irrawaddy dolphins. Not those bottleneck dolphins that we usually see in wallpapers or in the zoo. These looks more like dugongs. One of their characteristics is that they tend to be very shy creature so don’t expect them to do some flipping tricks for you while you enjoy from the kayak!

It's actually closer than it looks

We were extremely lucky that day cause we saw them quite often as they came up to the surface. Even one came so close to me that it was only a few feet away. Poor Bev! She was the one doing all the paddling while I was busy taking pictures and videos of the dolphins. It’s actually very hard to get a shot at them, so you’ve better be on your guard. They can appear anywhere and anytime. I was kinda hoping it might come up next to my kayak. Silly me.

Elusive Irrawaddy dolphins

We were on the waters for a good 2 hours plus but we didn’t notice the time cause we were so excited every time we spotted one. The place itself was such an amazing place. Not to mention how relaxing it was to be on the water.

View of the sunken island from kayak

Heading back to the beach

I must thank Francis for the opportunity. It’s simply out of this world! You must see it to believe it. For you skeptics, I’ve posted up photos of dolphins here. Videos will come soon. This is definitely an experience to savor. A highly recommended trip on tales of a gecko! These pictures are real and they are not photoshop-ped in any way! In the words of Francis himself, ‘See you in the waters!!!’