Swimming with Dolphins and Patagonia
By Rocky Thompson on June 22nd, 2010
This is the kind of thing you deal with when you’re Patagonia. You make a pair of pants from organic cotton, and then you get 50 letters asking, “Why didn’t you make the pockets big enough for pocket composting?” Their summer catalog features a picture of a woman swimming near dolphins off Oahu, and people have been writing and calling saying that it might encourage people to think it’s okay to jump on a Carnival cruise ship and pay an extra $80 to swim with the dolphins.
They’re swimming with dolphins - not herding them into a cove and slaughtering them. Let’s try to stay on task when we’re helping the ocean.
While I see where they’re coming from, being HI residents, I still think it’s a bit ridiculous that they assume when you see this picture you’d want to run off to do that thing. Come on give people some credit, we’re not all stupid, lacking reason people, who mimic everything we see. When I saw that picture I just thought it was a nice picture of a free diver…nothing more. I definitely didn’t think the complaints would be about the dolphins until I read the article. Though I guess some people don’t believe that dolphins are wild animals and should be approached as such.
Write a comment… It should be duely noted that hawaiian spinner dolphins are deep diving (1000 feet) night feeders and are resting in shallow bays during the day. It is HIGHLY illegal and irresponsible to approach them in the water during the day in maui and several other counties. The marine mammal protection act is federal law which makes it crime to approach any m.m. within 50 yards unless it swims to you. Its an expensive fine and people are watching!