SWIMMING WITH WILD DOLPHINS!
A quick word from Mike:
Hey all, long time, no see. I can't believe it's been almost two months since I posted our last update. Shame on me! I take full responsibility for saying "I'll post something tomorrow" several weeks in a row.
Well, we've been busy refitting the boat, and while nothing is completely finished, we've made a ton of progress, and plenty of battle scars to remind us. We'll have some pictures soon of all the work we've done on the interior of the catamaran.
While you wait on that, I hope you find this post from Lisa and video as awesome as we do! Swimming with wild dolphins? You bet, and from a safe distance! Watch to the end to see who our awesome videographer is!
The morning began slowly with music and chatting, happy to relax on Sunday. We ate yummy pancakes and bacon, relaxed, and just enjoyed the day. What I never saw coming was dolphins. Late in the afternoon, Michael heard fellow cruisers in the cove shouting and pointing “dolphins!”
Now, I have dreamed, and I mean wished and imagined and dreamed of my family swimming with dolphins from the very beginning, even before knowing we would take this crazy leap of faith. We watched their dorsal fins and flukes rise and fall a few times, somewhat in disbelief as we had been told they were very rare to see here. Yet here they were, with snorkelers in the water near them. We hurried onto our stand up paddle boards and paddled out quickly. We paddled near the pod as they breached the water’s surface.
We lowered ourselves in amongst a handful of others on the surface with masks and snorkels. There they were, playfully rubbing their backs and sides on the sea grass about 20 feet below, then coming up for air and diving playfully again, swirling around one another in a sweet dance of fun. There was a teeny baby, not more than a couple of feet long, a mom, another juvenile, and two larger, worn looking adults.
We paddled along and slipped in the water multiple times, sometimes just the kids jumped in as we pulled them along and let them look through their snorkel masks with excitement. For what seemed like 45 minutes, we paddled and swam, playfully giggled and smiled, and then it happened.
I was floating on the surface with other snorkelers, watching the two elders deep below, when God spoke to my heart “watch”. They looked up at me, and both swam toward me. One stayed a few feet below and the other swam right up to the surface and slowly toward me, face to face. He looked right into my eyes and just as I began to get slightly nervous about how close he was coming, he turned down and raced quickly and strongly to the bottom, spinning powerfully as he did so. He was covered in scratches and his dorsal fin was tattered, so powerful and beautiful, so strong and playful. I was in awe and wished in that moment I had the camera in my hand, but I have it forever in my mind…a sweet dolphin in my face, just feet away; a wonderful gift from my Father.
As quickly and playfully as they came, they swam out of the bay, into the setting sun glimmering on the water so brightly we could no longer look to see them. And there it was, my dream come true for my family. Right here, marking a week to the day of our first venture out, we swam near dolphins in the Caribbean Sea. My sweet babies experienced such a joyful, beautiful moment with God’s creation. It was amazing and certainly not the only encounter, just the most exciting so far.
Each and every day we discover something new...a green turtle, different rays, new tropical fish, an eel, giant spiny black and white urchins, fire coral, fan coral, bearded fire worms, squid, new corals and plants to look up, rocky shores to climb and explore, and endless stars and sunsets to watch. It is all blessing. We count them each and every day.
