Dolphin Tours

Shell Island is Panama City Beach’s answer to Destin’s Crab Island. The relaxed waters on the island’s bay side invite shallowdraft boats, swimmers and island explorers. Nearby jetties hold a tremendous variety of marine life spied on by snorkelers.

LIVING WITH PORPOISE

Dolphin enthusiast Lorraine Frasier has her dream job

STORY BY HANNAH BURKE // PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL BOOINI

CAPT. LORRAINE FRASIER is certain that if her younger self could see her now, she’d be over the moon. A tour guide and owner of Dolphin and Snorkel Tours in Panama City Beach, Frasier said she has loved dolphins from the moment she learned of their existence. Though the creatures rarely graced the Baltic Sea outside of her childhood home in Germany, Frasier could often be found glued to a television watching Flipper.

“In my child mind, I really thought dolphins were the humans of the sea who saved people, like Flipper,” laughed Frasier. “But even as I got older, I never stopped being fascinated. To me, they are beautiful, deeply intelligent creatures.”

The fascination was such that, as soon as Frasier turned 18, she moved to Panama City Beach from Colorado so she could work with dolphins.

“With this business, I can be around dolphins as well as show people a good time and make their day,” said Frasier, whose business has

The federal Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits the feeding of wild dolphins, but they may frequently be observed in and around the pass to St. Andrew Bay. Capt. Lorraine Frasier is equipped with hydrophones that enable her customers to listen to dolphin vocalizations.

now been in operation for 10 years. “I’m lucky, too, to have a staff who go above and beyond in what they do and custom cater each tour to ensure everybody’s happy.”

Given their specialty of intimate, private tours, Frasier and her three fellow captains make personalization a priority. Parties don’t exceed more than six people and often consist of families, friend groups and single riders who can choose from either a sightseeing or snorkeling Shell Island dolphin tour, a dolphin sunset cruise or a private charter with a customized itinerary.

Don’t hesitate to make any special requests. “We’ll do our best to make it happen,” Frasier said.

Most popular among visitors to Panama City Beach is the Shell Island dolphin and snorkel tour, a three-hour exploration of the pristine, seven-mile barrier island and the surrounding waters of St. Andrew Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

The tour departs Pirates Cove Marina and immediately thereafter, the search for dolphins begins. Frasier’s team members use VHF radios to keep in touch and frequently report where they’ve spotted pods and where water conditions seem best.

“No two tours are the same,” said Frasier, “and you never know what you’re going to see. But we typically head out through Grand Lagoon to spot some native birds and wildlife and share a little history about the area. Then, we head through the pass to see dolphins, sharks, rays and anything else we may find. We’ll make a stop on Shell Island to let people explore, and then we’ll find a good place to snorkel.”

Snorkeling gear and most everything is provided aboard Dolphin and Snorkel Tour’s fleet of four-stroke engine boats. These engines are among the most quiet on the market, said Frasier, so underwater creatures don’t scurry when it’s time to drop anchor.

Locations such as the grass flats behind Shell Island are often hot spots for fish, mollusks and starfish, but Frasier said her favorite snorkel site is the Percy Payne shipwreck. It hosts sea urchins, pufferfish, damselfish, angelfish and many more species. On one occasion, Frasier even spotted a small nurse shark.

“I always like sharing the story of the Percy Payne, which was this old wooden schooner that ran aground in the early 1900s,” said Frasier. “It was a rum runner, so weeks after it sunk, all these barrels of rum began washing ashore. That, they say, is the legend of how Spring Break started in Panama City Beach.”

Frasier said the opportunity to swim with dolphins isn’t guaranteed, but “happens most all the time.” These encounters are typically brief, but watching dolphins play underwater and surface and splash beside you is certainly a sight to behold.

“Ninety-nine percent of the dolphins we see are Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, but, maybe once a year, we’ll see some spotted dolphins,” Frasier said. “That’s always a big treat.”

A pair of young snorkelers check out a school of pinfish during a trip with Capt. Lorraine Frasier and Dolphin and Snorkel Tours. Frasier is a wildlife expert who is able to identify any marine life that her customers discover.

For Frasier, it’s the welcome unpredictability, spontaneity and happy accidents that make going to work every day so rewarding.

“One time, I drove a tour in a direction I would never normally go,” she recalled. “There was a pop-up storm I didn’t want to get into, so we decided to cruise the coast of Panama City Beach. Just offshore, we end up finding this huge pod of spotted and Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. There must have been over a hundred, and we spent hours just watching them with no one else around for as far as we could see.

“What started as a dreary day that wasn’t looking good ended up being one of the coolest tours I’ve ever been on. You just never know.”

 BOOK YOUR TRIP Dolphin and Snorkel Tours Inc. offers three-hour Shell Island tours starting at $79 per person. Full snorkeling gear is included. Snorkeling sites are changed from day to day to ensure that customers enjoy clear, calm waters. Sites include seagrass beds, sandbars and artificial reefs. Check calendar of availability at DolphinAndSnorkelTours.com or call (850) 866-8815.