Lovina's daily dolphin chase

One of the big attractions of Bali's Lovina is the dolphin watching cruise. Most people do it at sunrise (6 am), but there's an 8 am alternative too.

I wandered down to the beach just before six, and as expected, was soon aboard one of the outrigger fishing boats (perahu), and being motored out across the pre-dawn waters. We went a few kilometres out, and it was quiet for a while as we searched for any action.

Before long a big group of other boats was sighted though, and clearly that was where it was all happening. We roared off to join them.

Then there was an hour or so of frantic dodging, weaving, chasing, outmanoeuvring each other. And occasionally getting great close up views of the dolphins too. I actually thought the best part was just the spectacle of all the colour and movement and all the shapes and sizes of different boats and tourist groups.

There's much discussion of whether this does the dolphins any good. Locals point out that they do keep coming back every day, and I was inclined to think that they'd be pretty skilled at avoiding the boats if they wanted to, and maybe they enjoyed the daily entertainment anyway.

But then there was a story on the news in Australia today about how the dolphins in Adelaide keep getting hit and killed by speedboats there. So now I'm not so sure.