Happy Xmas from the “Bottlenose Dolphin Capital of the World”.
By Lloyd Edwards

Thursday, 25th December 2025

Thanks for supporting our Facebook posts over the years and giving such positive feedback. This makes us try harder when researching the posts, educates people about the marine environment and its protection and gives us better information to share with our guests on cruises.

What an amazing Xmas present to all the lucky passengers on the last pre-Xmas cruise to St Croix Island in Algoa Bay. We had already seen a smaller pod at Cape Recife, after which we headed towards the islands. We saw 2 feeding Bryde’s whales en route and a large raft of African penguins.

We had already been alerted by our “spies” that there was an extremely large pod of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins at “Lovers Lane” on the exposed side of St Croix Island. The sighting was from 2 hours previously, so we were not expecting them to still be there . . . although we were hoping like hell they would be!

The passengers let out all kinds of gasps when the magnitude of the pod became apparent, probably in the region of 600 animals. Spring was clearly in the air as “Lovers Lane” lived up to its reputation. Mating was in full swing all around the catamaran, as post coitus breaches stole the show, with the male’s penises still fully erect!

The “Bottlenose Dolphin Capital of the World” was launched on the 17th April 2016 when the Minister of Tourism visited Port Elizabeth. The attached photo was taken on shark Rock Pier, when we presented her with a poster detailing the launch. This was followed by a presentation on Algoa Bays dolphins at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club, with over 200 people in attendance.

The research on Algoa Bays dolphins was done over a 3-year period by Ryan Reisinger and Leszek Karczmarski, culminating in their scientific paper release during 2010. They plied the waters of Algoa Bay on 54 occasions and took 10 000 images. They arrived at a number of 28 482, which, to date, is the largest estimate for this species on the planet!

Thanks to Libu from Reunion Island for this great capture of a post coitus male in "Lovers Lane".

Taken with a Nikon Z0 mirrorless, ISO 400, 115mm zoom, f/8 and 1/1600th second. Luckily I had zoomed out to catch this pregnant female right next to our catamaran "My Bru".

Penis still erect, this male does his stuff next to our catamaran.

It is not often that these amazing animals keep up the breaching for such extended periods.

I'm sure this one was trying to say something!

Dolphins change the shape of the lens in the eye, so they can focus while out of the water.

This female is clearly pregnant, as the yet to be born calf is curled up inside the uterus. This gives the newborn the characteristic "fetal folds" which last for a few weeks after birth.