Blogger Brian Tress gets a leg up from a fellow passenger,
with the Dolphin Watch boat Phoenix in the background.
(Credit: Erin Porter)
It’s a beautiful, sunny Friday morning in Nags Head, with the wind blowing at 12 mph from the northwest. Tori Egy, today’s guide from Nags Head Dolphin Watch — operator of Kitty Hawk Kites’ dolphin watch tours — works to ready the pontoon-style boat known as the Phoenix.
“It’s a good middle-of-the-road wind,” observes Tori.
She explains how these trips enable Dolphin Watch to take people out to see bottlenose dolphins in their natural environment while also conducting research. “We identify them by their dorsal fins,” she says. “Researchers up and down the East Coast, including us, take photos of their fins and add them to the Mid-Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin Photo-Identification Catalog.”
The 26 passengers who booked the 9 a.m. tour begin to line up on the pier — families with toddlers, groups of friends, and couples.
Captain Jeff Brown, fearless leader of the Phoenix, checks his weather app and coordinates with another Dolphin Watch boat over the radio to improve their chances of spotting dolphins.
(L) Tori Egy of Dolphin Watch takes photos of dolphins, which will later be used for identification in a research database; (C) Captain Jeff Brown shows off his weather app; (L) the crew and passengers of the Phoenix on the 9 a.m. tour, June 20, 2025. (Credit: Brian Tress)
As the Phoenix begins its journey across Roanoke Sound, Tori gives a brief safety talk that ends with a buoyant, “Who’s ready to find some dolphin?!”
The boat moves steadily over the calm, glittering water. After about 20 minutes, a sudden collective shriek breaks the quiet.
About 100 feet from the bow on the port side, dolphins are breaching — leaping several feet out of the water and splashing down as they break the surface at an angle. Lucy, a two-year-old, curly-haired toddler, stands on her seat and gapes in awe. Each time she sees a dolphin, she squeals with joy.
(L – top): During the tour, the bottlenose dolphin Split Pea was identified by the cut in his dorsal fin, (L-bottom): Split Pea and Band Aid, a male bonded pair, swimming together, (R) Little Lucy is transfixed by the view. (Credit: Brian Tress)
As the spectacle continues, Tori introduces the dolphins: “The pair out there today are males named Split Pea — due to the little cut in his dorsal fin — and Band Aid. They’re a male bonded pair, meaning they sleep, eat, travel, and hunt side by side.”
Next on the itinerary is a quick trip through Wanchese Harbor, the largest commercial fishing hub in North Carolina. We pass longliner boats used for catching tuna and swordfish, and PVC shedding tanks where crabs are stored in salt water during molting season and then harvested as soft-shell crabs.
Colorful old fishing boat in Wanchese Harbor. (Credit: Brian Tress)
The return trip to Nags Head winds through wetland canals, where calm, brackish water is bordered by green needlerush stretching to the horizon. Osprey chirp and circle high overhead.
As the Phoenix approaches the pier, Tori asks the group, “Did you know osprey mate for life, but they take separate vacations during the winter after they give birth?” A perfect cap to an experience where education and adventure go hand in hand.
To learn more about the dolphins of the Outer Banks, visit Outer Banks Center for Dolphin Research.
Written and crafted by Brian Tress
