Spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) rides the bow wave near Malé

Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) leaping alongside the boat

Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) races to the bow to bow-ride

Spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) swim alongside the vessel at dawn

Pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) swims beside the ship in glassy seas

Pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) in a characteristic high leap

A pair of athletic striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) escorting our vessel

Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) logging quietly at the surface

Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) approaching to bow-ride the vessel

The scarred head of a spy-hopping Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus)

Acrobatics! Spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) with a hitch-hiking remora on it's flank

Bryde's whale (Balaenoptera edeni) surfacing while feeding with brown noddy's and terns 

The sloped back and prominent dorsal fin of a Bryde's whale (Balaenoptera edeni)

The characteristic blunt head and scarred back of a Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) 

Short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) emerging from the swell

Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) pretending to be sperm whales!

Short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) spy-hopping near the boat

The eye of a curious spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) checks us all out

Beautifully streamlined - a spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) porpoising alongside

Two spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) mating at the surface

Spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) approaching to bow-ride

The familiar profile of a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops sp.) 

Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops sp.) porpoising in to ride the bow wave

Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) breaching from the water