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Hello Friends!
There were many highlights on our latest island adventure.
On our first boat trip out to the dolphins, we met a group of
about 25-30 spotted and bottlenose dolphins. They were really
revved up, leaping and splashing around the boat, and three or
four of them were playing with the bow wave. Practically
everyone got an up close face to face look, laying down on the
deck and peering over the edge, eye to eye with the dolphins
surfing the water from the bow. They were weaving back and forth,
turning sideways and looking at us, popping their heads out of
the water and grabbing some air. We were so close,
several of us got wet from the spray of their blowholes.
Other dolphins were surfing and leaping the waves behind and
alongside the boat, receiving much hooting and hollering from
us. We cheered them on and they hammed it up. Several bottlenose
and one baby spotted kept leaping clear out of the water - it
was an experience of sheer joy to behold.
Then it was time to stop the boat and get in, and we scrambled
to put on our masks, snorkels and fins. We got the 'All Clear'
sign, and into the drink we went. It looked like the lemming's
march to the sea.
As often happens, the moment I get underwater, everything
stops and becomes silent. I slip into a quiet and peaceful state.
Then I saw the dolphins, swimming all around us. I gulped a lung
full of air and dove down, and was immediately surrounded by
several.
A fully mature spotted dolphin came up very close and stuck
his face right in front of mine. His skin was a mottled mix of
grey and white, and he was trailing a thin strand of bubbles
from his blowhole. We locked eyes, and I turned to keep eye contact
as he swam in slow circles around me. I was mesmerized, starstruck
and enraptured. It always happens to me, I am a sucker for any
dolphin who stares deep in my eyes. As I continued to look, I
sunk into a place of peacefulness, and I felt all my neediness
and worries slip gently away. Just like that, all my thoughts
and identities as a trip leader, as an individual, as a human
being fell gently to the sandy ocean floor below. There was just
me and that soulful eye.
Even as I write this, I am back in the water, feeling the
comfort and peace of that encounter. In this dolphin I saw the
eye of the Divine, and in it's reflection I saw that despite
all the fears and pains and injustices of the world, in the eyes
of grace, all is well.
Thank you for sharing in this simple peace with me.
Love, |
