A dozen things I learned at a Waiheke Island dolphin stranding

First person - Being part of the successful rescue of eight dolphins stranded at Whakanewha on Waiheke Island last Friday gave me a hands-on chance to learn how to care for beached dolphins. Here are a dozen things I learned.

It's not a time to take selfies

- The first thing I learnt is it's a harrowing scene. Arriving at Whakanewha on 12 August, the vast expanse of sand was dotted with nine sleek, dark shapes that could barely move. Babies and youngsters made up a significant number of the stranded common dolphins.

When I spotted two uncovered dolphins, I waded down the muddy beach and soaked two towels in shallow pools. I draped a wet towel gently over the nearest dolphin. Its lack of movement chilled me. Death had come fast. I moved onto the next dolphin with tears stinging my eyes, only to find a tiny baby dolphin lying lifeless on the sand.

I abandoned my towels and walked further, finding two young dolphins hanging onto life about 30 metres away. Two women were quietly trickling water from buckets over them and I joined them at about 11.30am.

As the day wore on, more people gathered. Some came to help but some just came to see the dolphins. A stranding isn't the right day to admire dolphins or to take selfies or gather likes on your livestream. It's a day of tragedy and suffering where quiet help is needed.

Bring cotton sheets

The young dolphin I spent most of the day caring for was draped in a wet sack and a thermal-backed curtain when I arrived. I sensed its relief when I peeled these off and poured water over its skin. I learned from the experts that rough fabrics are too scratchy and artificial fibres can stick to their drying skin. Wet towels are also too heavy for a marine mammal whose organs can get crushed under their body weight on the sand.

A cotton sheet proved the perfect light-weight fabric to drape over the dolphins to stop sunburn.

Bring buckets

One of the most beautiful aspects of the day was watching a long line of people form a chain of bucket bearers. Some stood in the cold sea for hours, filling heavy buckets with fresh seawater. These were passed from one pair of caring hands to the next so the island community could provide a steady supply of water for us to pour over the dolphins and keep their skin moist.

At one stage, I started trying to use all the water supplied. An expert told me to slow down, because even having water gently poured over them increases the dolphins' stress levels. They only need wetting once every few minutes.

Never pour water in a dolphins' blowhole

We were instructed to wet the dolphin's bodies, but avoid pouring any water over their blowholes or heads. Even a tiny trickle dribbling over the blowhole caused the dolphin distress. I realised it's like having water poured up your nose - you don't want anything entering the holes you breathe through and neither does a dolphin.

Later, an expert taught us to wait until immediately after the dolphin had breathed out through its blowhole, then quickly splash water over its head. This helped keep it cool, washed sand from its eyes, and rinsed away the clear mucus that was welling up around its eyes on dry land.

Don't move stranded dolphins

Trying to lift or drag a dolphin can cause physical harm. They can survive for 12 hours or more on the sand, so it's best to leave them where they are.

Dig around them

Carefully dig out the sand around the dolphin. This creates a pool of cool water for the dolphin to rest in and allows their tail and dorsal fins to stay damp.

Listen with your eyes

I discovered that beached dolphins communicate in clear but subtle ways. I called the dolphin I helped most of the day 'Angel', because it stayed calm and seemed to keep its joyful spirit through more than five long hours lying in the hot sun on a stretch of sand that became more like an endless desert as the tide receded further and further. Angel would lift her head slightly, giving me a powerful sense that she appreciated the cool splashes of water over her.

A slightly bigger dolphin, that I nicknamed 'Bonny', was lying a few metres away from Angel. Bonny started flapping and twisting around, giving non-verbal signals that she was in pain and needed to be moved off the side she had been lying on for hours. With expert help, we rolled her gently so she was lying flat on her belly with both dorsal fins free.

Talk to them

Bonny would jerk her head and slap her tail every time I walked past to get buckets of water for Angel. I learned to say "it's only me", before I entered Bonny's space, a verbal cue that stopped her panicking at the sound of my footsteps.

I talked to Angel all day. It was impossible not to admire her beauty and strength and joy. Her suffering was so tangible, I couldn't help but offer her the only words I had, in a language she obviously doesn't speak. I told her she was stronger than she knew and promised she would make it.

It was clear that Angel and Bonny were listening out for each other. Bonny made sounds and Angel showed signs of listening closely for signs her mate was okay and responding when she heard her.

Stay calm or stay away

Dolphins are probably more sensitive than most people. It became clear the dolphins were picking up the presence of people who were standing around taking photos or video. They started thrashing more, showing increased distress as the crowds around them grew.

People with calm, gentle energy kept the dolphins calm.

One of the hardest tasks of the day was trying to keep well-meaning people away. Looking after the dolphins meant asking people to stop talking loudly and noisily banging buckets together. Pouring water from one bucket to another also seemed a bad idea, as Bonny seemed to get more agitated - possibly hearing the sound of water increased her desperation to dive into the sea.

Someone placed orange cones and sacks in a circle, marking out the space the dolphins needed. This definitely helped.

Be prepared to get attached

After an hour helping look after Angel, I cared about her as though she was a sister. Her kind, joyful gaze amazed me every time I paused to look into her eye. It was clear this was a day in hell for a glorious being, which had sand in its mouth, sun scorching the skin on its head and the weight of its body bearing down on it. Sometimes I sensed Angel's energy fading and doubted she would make it.

Wait for the sea

Whakanewha is a shallow bay, so the water disappears about 100 metres from the shoreline at low tide. It felt forever away. But at about 4pm, the sea finally started to lap around Bonny, then reached Angel.

Help them find their way

Stay behind dolphins as they enter the sea, so they know which way to head out. Bonny bucked her head up to breathe as waves started to lap over her head, but stayed on the sand until the water covered her thoroughly. She had seemed healthy and active all day, despite the period where she had seemed in pain lying on her side. She swam away so strongly, I had little doubt she had survived her ordeal in fine form.

Angel sank. I cried out when she went down. It seemed too cruel for her to have suffered all day, only to have lost her battle to survive just as the tide offered her the hope of freedom. The expert beside me lifted her to the surface so she could rest and breathe for a minute. Finally, Angel slowly swam out, then disappeared from view beneath the waves for a long minute. She surfaced beside Bonny and another dolphin and they slowly swam out of the bay together. Tears ran down my face as I laughed at seeing them head out to sea.

Eight of the 10 dolphins that were stranded were refloated and appear to have survived. An adult and a baby dolphin died and the cause of their death is being investigated by researchers from Massey University, before their bodies are returned to Whakanewha for burial.

Red algae bloomed at Whakanewha and other bays on Waiheke Island on Saturday morning and samples of the algae have been collected for analysis.