In Greek stories and some old sea stories, there are dozens of claims of dolphins helping drowning sailors, rescuing people from sharks, and making themselves useful as guides through the treacherous waters. British long-distance swimmer Adam Walker was on a 16-mile swim in New Zealand’s Cook Strait on April 22 when according to the Huffington Post, Walker spotted a great white shark swimming right beneath him.
Adam Walker reported that this is when a group of dolphins quickly came to his rescue. 10 dolphins surrounded Adam Walker and stayed by his side until the dangerous shark swam away. On Facebook a day after the swim he posted photos of the dolphins. “I’d like to think they were protecting me and guiding me home!!!” Adam Walker wrote on his page.
It has been reported that Adam Walker who was swimming to raise proceeds for the nonprofit Whale and Dolphin Conservation, and embarked on the Cook Strait swim as part of the Ocean’s Seven, a global challenge to complete seven long-distance swims survived a shark attack. According to the Huffington Post, Walker crossed the Cook Strait in 8 hours and 36 minutes. Walker has successfully completed the English Channel, the Molokai Channel, a two-way crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar, the Catalina Channel, the Tsugaru Channel, and the Cook Strait in 8 hours 36 minutes on 22 April 2014.
Adam Walker is a leading British open water swimmer who is also one of the leading adventurers in the Oceans Seven challenge, having completed 6 of the 7 channels as of April 2014. Adam Walker also does motivational talks and has technical swim camps in the United Kingdom and across the European continent.
Back in 2007, a pod of bottlenose dolphins intervened, forming a protective ring around Monterey, Calif., Surfer Todd Endris, when a monster great white that came out of nowhere — had hit him three times, peeling the skin off his back and mauling his right leg down to the bone, according to Today.com. The 24 year old was able to make it to shore because of the assistance of the dolphins.
According to Dolphin World, a British tourist was also rescued by three dolphins from sharks Near the Sinai Peninsula, when a ship captain had stopped the boat so a few passengers could watch some dolphins playing. Three of the passengers decided to swim with them, and one stayed a little longer than the rest. Horribly, he was bitten by a shark – and there more were coming. Then, then three dolphins placed themselves between the tourist and the sharks, smacking the water with their tails and flippers, and drove the sharks away in order for the man to be rescued. Dolphins are smart and helpful. “They could have sensed the danger to the swimmers, and taken action to protect them,”  said Ingrid Visser, of Orca Research, an environmental group of the dolphins behavior.
Image Credit: www.knlive.ctvnews.ca