Learning from the Wild Dolphins

One
of my spiritual adventures a few years ago was swimming with wild dolphins off Akaroa, a city on a peninsula on the South Island, New Zealand. I was so excited, it was something that I had been longing to experience for quite some time. And I wanted to experience being with wild dolphins, not domesticated ones.

My comrades in arms for this adventure were Rae Osborn, a really good friend of mine, and Amanda Broadhurst-Multhaup, someone I was just beginning to know. We made our rendezvous and drove out to Akaroa, also called the French Settlement – quaint, historic, very scenic.   

And so the adventure began in earnest. Living by the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, I’d never had to wear a wetsuit before, so I was looking forward to another new experience. I told the lady my size, and she brought me this rubber suit. I tried to put it on, but it was Way too small. So I took it back to the lady and told her I needed a bigger size. She reassured me the size was correct. Hmmm. Rae and Amanda were totally unsuccessful in smothering their laughter. It almost took longer to put on that tiny rubber suit (it was already wet), than we spent with the dolphins. Suffice to say, getting into the wetsuit was a nail breaking, swearing tug-of-war made
more hilarious by each other’s antics.

Dolphin info: Hectors Dolphins are the rarest of dolphins, found only in New Zealand, and mostly around the South Island. We were warned not to touch … "these are wild dolphins, not pets." Once we got into their area, the captain told us to "make noise, play, keep ‘em curious. They will only come around if you interest them." When he stopped the boat, I eased over the side to get my legs used to the cold. After a few minutes, I realized that just wasn’t going to happen. Then I
wondered if I could play with the dolphins from the back of the boat. That water was past “cold," it could have turned into an iceberg at any moment. You know how I like cold water (NOT!). After 2 minutes of shaming myself (Rae and
Amanda were already out there), I jumped in. For the next few minutes, I could only gasp, taking in air that couldn’t get into my lungs – I thought I was going to die from asphyxiation with my mouth wide open. It took awhile before I could
function properly.

The next hour
was spent exploring my connection with my cousins, the dolphins. I learned several things:

1. It’s not just people who don’t like my singing. I sang as loud as I could underwater, and nary a dolphin came to admire.

2. Dolphins like ‘zipper music’ – especially Old MacDonald
(try working your wetsuit zipper with bloodless fingers – it’s a talent).

3. All I could think about was how cold I was, until the dolphins zoomed out of the cloudy, icy sea. At that point, cold was a non-issue. Everything was a non-issue, except these flashing quick creatures – and how to communicate with them. I was scared at first, cuz they knocked me out of my solitariness with no warning. From out of nowhere, they rushed right up to me, around me, checking me out. How they avoided slamming into me, I’ll never know. But they never even touched me physically. They touched me in every other way.

4. It’s healthful not to turn your head (with
attached snorkel) into an oncoming wave and breathe at the same time.

5. Wet suits
ARE a flotation device. (I hadn’t known that.) Either that, or it wasn’t water, it really was ice, and we were floating on top of it.

6. You can get instant warmth by peeing in your wetsuit.

7. The warmth doesn’t last long – nothing could stay warm long in that water.

8. I want to
do it again (play with dolphins, I mean).

9. Post-experience learning: I want my own wetsuit. That realization dawned, when it occurred to me that others before me had probably peed in that same wetsuit. Yuck!