Man, i was out today on the South Jetty, oregon style, and i had been seeing a few dolphins surfacing a ways out, and it was awesome. About an hour before i left, i was paddling out to meet the wave and 5 ft in front of me two of them were surfin right below the surface, came right in front of me and seperated goin 180 degrees like nuthin. By far the coolest thing ive ever seen in the water. The waves werent that great, and i bruised my foot on my big ol skeg, but man, it was the best day in my whole surfin life—1yr— Well, thats my story, stay stoked- Caleb
Kewl, you don’t see them too often up here. Generally seeing a fin at my beach means get out of the water, not gawk, but hell, good on ya. Big waves on the way!
true, fins are sketch, but, its my opinion that if ya got dolphins, u have less chance of big fins. This is an age old argument im sure. they had me lookin, rest assured, and the water is so clear there, u can see bottom at around 7ft deep. Id rather see flipper than jaws for sure! like i tell all my non surfer friends, im more concerned with gettin hit by a car, which i have, than gettin hit by the man…
No doubt, I just hardly ever see them here, not that I see whitey either(crosses fingers). Curious where you were at, you sure don’t have to tell me if you don’t want too. I’m in Coos Bay.
i live in Eugene, but where we been goin is the South Jetty, right outside of florence. Im not one of these guys who keep my waves secret, i enjoy sharing the wealth, but i also dont want every kook in oregon in my line up, which, even still would be a better day thank any in Norcal where i learned to surf. It was like target practice there man… would love to hook up sometime, always lookin for new spots and new people. Stay stoked
I got em in deuces. Been here for a couple of decades. Looks big next week. Good waves for ya.
You can pm me here if you’re ever heading this direction.
Getting three blanks soon, first one gonna be a fish and the second a hybrid, just to keep it on topic (;
Second thought, I see no pm function, try surfline (riverjetty).
SJetty, Florence good.
And about 12 spots S before the Calif. border too.
I’ve even gotten good surf with Will Brady at his resort at Floras Lake. We just walked over the dunes and paddled out.
The bridge, Face, the Cape, but summer waters can be cold, or not.
Hey Everyone,
I’m fortunate too surf with Dolphins Quite regulary (every month or two) I Very often see them!
Its really good too actaully see them face to face next to you, a really special feeling rather then just seing there fins.
you see the east coast of oz. has soo much freindly dolphins its incredible!
If you want too see dolphins come to oz and go to a place called the pass @ byron bay, this place must hold the undistributed world dolphin title,
some people who live there often surf with a pod of dolphins they know by name!
Happy surfing,
Josh.
Its wierd - i feel sooo spoilt where im from (East Coast Australia) yet i still bitch everyday uring winter about having to wear a steamer! 
. Here, i see dolphins literaly 50% of the times i go out. Theyre scary at first, but after that theyre calming because u know theres no sharks. Anyone ever surfed close to whales? we dont get as many whales, but during migration we get a few that come close to shore. Earlier this year surfed less than 100m from a humpback with her daughter. Thay stayed at a relatively secluded spot where i go for a few days, as the baby had just been born. One of the best experiences ive ever had
The best thing about surfing dolphins is that they picky in their wave selection. I pretty much only see dolphins surfing on the larger set waves- at least chest high. On smaller days they usually don’t even bother catching waves.
We see them all the time here in the Monterey Bay, mostly at the beach breaks (Manresa, Aptos, Moss Landing etc,) they’re always fun to be around. The only time I’ve been startled by them was when a big male got playful and jumper completely out of the water and landed about ten feet from me. That would’ve hurt.
I’ve heard all the arguments about dolphins and sharks and I believe that if there are dolphins in an area there won’t be any sharks in the immediate area, BUT, not far off there’s bound to be a shark or two following the dolphin school, especially if there are young dolphins. Saw this many times while working a fishing boat,
While spending a summer on a spinner dolphin research project we often saw “tigers” following the group. These dolphins often showed signs of shark encounters. The Hawaiian Spinner is a relatively small animal, compared to Bottlenose dolphins. So I feel pretty safe surfing with Bottlenose Dolphins around, but I pay a little more attention when Spinners are in the neighborhood. Mostly I just enjoy the water and celebrate the wildlife (and drive carefully 'cause that’s where the real danger lies).
When I was working the fishing boat it would totally bum me out when we would come across a a large number of dead dolphins floating around in an area, way offshore. Signs that the tuna boats and/or the factory boats had been there. What a waste of magnificent animals.
ok, so on another note, what are some good key things to be on the watchout for that could indicate a shark might be around? Aside from fins, blood, and crippled seal lions?
In my neck of the woods, if you’re in the water anywhere between SC and SF there’s a shark somewhere near. Pay close attention to that instinctive feeling you get when you know you shouldn’t be in the water or go out.
Other signs? birds working a spot out in the water, might indicate a shark has just munched something and there’s crumbs in the water.
Sudden exit of all other sealife from the area. Apparently just before the poor women got hit at Avila beach the seals swimming around her suddenly took off.
Other than the obvious fin there’s no sure fire sign.
I got checked-out by a whitie a few years ago at Daveport. I haven’t been the same since.
Hey Nicco,
What part of the east coast are you from?, Im from Sydney…Funny that I always bitch about steamers but yeah were constantly dolphin infestid here, I surf manly most days,
I also have surfed close(ish) to whales, I was out at Crescent Head and there was no one in the water but me and me dad and all of a sudden about 750m out were whale splashing!
Happy Surfing,
Josh.
PS… Who has surfed with sharks?
I have surfed with one that i just noticed when i got out of the water next to me was a little 1 and a half metre white tip reef shark…Spooky seaming it was dusk and there was no one in the whole carpark, area, or beach…
Hey J,
I have surfed with way too many sharks in my life. During the mullet runs here in Fla you see several every other time you surf. You kinda get used to them, and of course they’re small 4-5’ ,hell who am I kidding…they all look huge when your several hundred yards offshore.One place with a rock reef you actually had to time it coming in because the little buggers were cruising back and forth between the sandbars near shore. Par for the course I guess…just yank your feet when a little mullet school runs by…and hope it is a tarpon or kingfish chasing. I have also seen dolphins and sharks very close to each other,chowing and chasing mullet schools. Have fun…peace and waves…
I live on the southeast coast and there are a bunch of fools who have been feeding the Dolphins so they can charge Yokels a bunch of money to go out and play with them.Next thing you know they will have the Dolphins Smoking cigars and drinking beer.
Hi Nicco
I am from east coast of South Africa during winter their are loads of whales. Apparently it is suposed to be the closest you can get to a whale from dry land. We have often had to wait for whales to move out the way so that we could paddle out. They have been so close you could throw your board at them from the rocks ( not that we did). The southern Hemisphere is an amazing place for wildlife. So unspoilt Man I miss it. I live in the UK now no fish no dolphins, thank goodness no sharks too.
Here is some interesting stuff about dolphins and sharks.
Q: Do dolphins really beat up sharks?
- John
St. Louis, MO
A: Usually not, unless the shark is relatively small.
This notion is based on a much-publicized incident that took place at the Miami Seaquarium in the 1950’s. When a Sandbar Shark showed a bit too much interest in the birth of a Bottlenose Dolphin calf, three of the adult male dolphins ganged up on the shark, butting it in the gills and stomach until it died. This ‘protective’ behavior was cemented in the public’s mind by the television series, Flipper, produced in association with the Miami Seaquarium. There is a record of a Bottlenose Dolphin off California killing a two-foot Leopard Shark (Triakis semifasciata), then supporting it at the surface (which raises doubts about tales of dolphins ‘rescuing’ human swimmers: perhaps balancing an object on the rostrum is merely a dolphin game, devoid of any altruistic motivation).
During the 1960’s, the U.S. Navy trained Bottlenose Dolphins to incapacitate large sharks by butting their delicate gill pouches. The dolphins quickly learned to attack Sandbar (Carcharhinus plumbeus), Lemon (Negaprion brevirostris), and Nurse Sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum), but refused to approach a Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas) of similar size and shape. Sandbar, Lemon, and Nurse Sharks are not known to attack dolphins in the wild, but Bull Sharks are. This suggests that dolphins are able to classify sharks as either dangerous or not dangerous - an eminently practical taxonomy.
In the wild, similar-sized dolphins and sharks pretty much leave each other alone. Some 75% of wild dolphins show some degree of shark scarring - and we usually see only the ones that got away. I have pulled dolphin remains from the stomachs of many sharks over the years, particularly from Tiger Sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier). Thus, it seems that in most battles between dolphins and sharks in the wild, dolphins get the worst of the encounter.