Stepping off the back of the boat, I plunged into the warm Bahama waters. Within seconds, I saw them, faint gray shapes moving through the clear blue water. One of them broke off and swam towards me, nodding his head and clicking. As he passed, I looked into the eyes of a wild dolphin for the first time.
This dolphin's spots show that he is very old.
A dozen more Atlantic spotted dolphins followed, some slipping by less than an arm's length away. I hyperventilated in my snorkel and my eyes filled with tears behind my mask. I lectured myself to calm down, while I also tried to confirm that this was reality and not just another dream I'd wake up from with a fuzzy sense of longing. I somersaulted to let off energy in an explosion of bubbles and joy.
This was the most magical thing that's ever happened to me.
When I first found Wildquest's website, I bookmarked it as a far-fetched vacation idea. A week-long, all-inclusive retreat to practice yoga and swim with my life-long favorite animals in the Bahamas? Too outlandish, too luxurious.
Then, I received an email offering a last-minute discount of 40% off, and I started considering it seriously. It would still be an expensive trip, but I had squirreled away enough money from my side jobs to make my own selfish dream come true. After a childhood spent absorbing every fact I could about dolphins through books and documentaries, and after years sleeping in a bright-blue bedroom decorated with their images, I'd finally be observing them in real life.
The Wildquest resort is located on the tiny island of Bimini in the Bahamas. We were greeted at the airport by their neighbor, Ebbie, who sang in a deep baritone as he drove us in his boat and dropped us off into the staff's open arms. The shores were piled with discarded conch shells, the staple food here where other fresh ingredients are hard to come by.
It was too windy to go out in the catamaran that afternoon, so I walked across the island's only street and ran into the warm embrace of the Atlantic ocean for the first time.
That evening, I ate an amazing vegetarian dinner while listening to the sounds of a political-rally-turned-dance-party outside (here's where I'd like to get into a discussion on Bahama politics and economics, but now is not the time). I signed up for shared chores and continued getting to know all the people around me.
I thought this would be a solo trip, but when I met the "human pod" I would be spending the week with, I realized I would be far from alone. The twenty-two individuals from all over the world were united by a common fascination with dolphins, but each had their own stories to tell. Some had returned to Wildquest many times.
I loved them all, even the couple who believed dolphins were extraterrestrials. My roommate, Ikumi, was a free-spirited video game artist who also lived in the Bay Area. We treated every night like a sleepover, staying up late talking and giggling.
I hadn't even seen a dolphin yet, and I was already having the time of my life.
The next day, we headed out on the catamaran, stopping for some reef snorkeling before sailing out on the open ocean. We were just about to head home when they appeared, distant dorsal fins slicing through the water. A pod of over 30 spotted dolphins surrounded our boat and rode our bow, showing off their acrobatic skills.
We knew it was time to get in the water when they slowed and gathered behind the boat, waiting for us by the ladder. I was all too eager to jump in.
I had imagined that swimming with dolphins would be like a jogger trying to keep up with a sports car, just gray blurs darting around in the distance. But these dolphins went out of their way to make us feel welcome in their watery world, slowing their balletic movements to dance around us. Time would decelerate to a trickle each time a dolphin drifted at my side, eye-to-eye, before it slid away with the flick of a tail.
At the end of that first swim, the dolphins coalesced near the bottom in some kind of secret meeting before they disappeared into the ocean as quickly and quietly as they came. It showed just how much the swim was on their terms, not ours.
Later that week, we also swam with a pod of bottlenose dolphins, the most famous species thanks to the intelligence that unfortunately makes them so coveted for captivity. We observed them feeding for two-and-a-half hours.
Underwater, the noise was like a swamp full of mosquitoes, a steady drone as the dolphins sonared the sand for fish. When they found one, they pointed their bodies straight down and nosed the fish out in a cloud of sand. Sometimes there was a flash of silver as the fish broke free and the dolphin chased it down, but usually it ended with a barely visible gulp. Nurse sharks and barracuda patrolled the bottom to scavenge for scraps (a risky move - one dolphin attacked a shark with a tail smash for getting too close).
Every five minutes or so, each dolphin would surface for air and pause to examine us. Their echolocation gives them a detailed three-dimensional image of their target, inside and out. When three bottlenose blasted me with a series of clicks at once, I felt overexposed. But usually, I just felt seen, personally acknowledged.
The highlight of this swim was the baby bottlenose. While its mother/aunt diligently rooted out food, it bobbed alongside, sometimes pretending to hunt and other times distractedly wandering off to play. On one of these times, it found some seaweed, shaking it in his mouth before letting it slide down to catch on his tail.
I decided to try an experiment, an homage to my 8-year-old self who believed she could emote with animals. I sent a mental invitation, layered with feelings of welcome and joy and play. To my surprise, the little dolphin rolled on his side to look at me then rocketed upwards. He broke the surface about 3 feet away and swam in a circle around me, wriggling like a puppy before rejoining his aunt at the bottom. The adult skeptic says that this was just a coincidence, but the timing made me smile.
Dolphins are conscious breathers, meaning for them every breath is a decision. To sleep, they only rest half of their brain at a time, so that the other half can remind them to surface for air.
During the week at Wildquest, we tried to live the same way (no, we didn't shut half our brains down). We started each morning with yoga, matching our inhalations and exhalations to our movements. In the evenings, the staff guided us through meditations. And throughout the day I kept bringing my attention back to the filling of my lungs. Breathe in... breathe out...
When you control each breath, you become aware that you're alive. You're here in this moment, thanks to the process that moves oxygen from the environment throughout your body. Suddenly, perceived stresses seem trivial.
Of course, we also shut down our automatic breathing when we're underwater.
There were a couple occasions when the dolphins surrounded me, left and right and below, as though I were a part of their pod. At first, I tried to make myself smaller to avoid accidentally touching them, but I learned to relax. The burning in my lungs faded away, and one of the dolphins brushed against my arm, its skin smooth and rubbery. We all rose to the surface to breathe together, my snorkel fountaining water with a satisfying pffft before I pulled in fresh air.
I could hear the dolphins expelling their own breaths around me. It was like a message: We're here together. We're alive.
I had just graduated from college in an ultra-competitive electrical engineering/computer science program that seemed designed to overstress and isolate. It had warped my perspective on what was valuable in life (spoiler alert: it's not deadlines and good grades). For me, this was not just a vacation, it was a reawakening.
Those dolphins will never know how much it meant to feel accepted by them, even though I'm a member of a species that over-fishes their homes and steals them away to small tanks.
To this day, I try to live by the lessons I learned from the dolphins: Play often, just for the fun of it. Accept others into your pod, even if they're from a totally different environment. And don't forget to breathe.
Video
For those who can't watch it in their country, here's the DTube video.
!steemitworldmap 25.740769 lat -79.287860 long If you've ever dreamt of swimming with wild dolphins, spend a week at Wildquest in the Bahamas. D3SCR <-- Want to know what this is? Check out steemitworldmap.com and this post!
Thanks for reading! This is part of the "That Time I..." series in which I document old memories that I still can't believe happened. I drew many words from my original journal entries in 2012. The photos are video stills from my GoPro and from fellow-tourist Meinhardt's camera, used with permission. This was long before I had a musician for a boyfriend to add soundtracks to my videos, so the music used is "Good Day" by the lovely Priscilla Ann and "Wow" by Thomas Newman.
Also, check out the #popcontest tag for loads of positive vibes from the Steemit community, and find @karenmckersie's latest contest to submit your own!
-Katie, @therovingreader
Thanks for Sharing your Adventures here. I love seeing people share their passions - it's Awesomeness. Thanks for sharing some of your Awesomeness - Keep at it!
Very cool reflections on Breathing!
One Breath at a time...one moment at a time...one expression at a time!
Breath Awareness is what grounds/roots ourselves here Physically
What a great post! Thanks for sharing your story. I would love to go do something like this. I imagine the kid in me would come out in much the same way it did in you in that sort of experience. Just magical.
Thanks for the telling :)
Awe ! What an awesome post ! I have always loved dolphins / whales , I lived quite awhile on the west coast in Vancouver and on Vancouver island in Nanaimo ! We did go on whale watching tours as well before , and I do miss the ocean , living more inland now about 4 hours east of Vancouver !
Thanks for sharing your awesome story and photos with us and in my #popcontest , helping spread more positivity around steemit ! I loved what you said : "To this day, I try to live by the lessons I learned from the dolphins: Play often, just for the fun of it. Accept others into your pod, even if they're from a totally different environment. And don't forget to breathe." thanks for sharing ! Don't forget to check out my Pop Contest 3 On Sunday to enter as well , and and keep those Positive vibes flowing ! Good Luck !ππππ
Hehehe, love the vacuum dog!
I live in Seattle, so I usually head to the San Juan Islands to get my orca-watching fix. I'm so obsessed I can sit for hours just staring out at the water, and I hope that one day soon I'll be able to spot them from my kayak! I would love to spend more time on Vancouver Island as well. It's all soooo beautiful, as is the rest of BC and the PNW!
I hope your positivity contest keeps getting stronger and stronger! :)
That's awesome !! Thanks for replying back , its been doing really good as far as entries and the community involvement ! The prize wont be as good this time as the first one , the main post got less upvotes and money , and I only got one donation of 6.00 dollars this time compared to 5 last time , but that's OK ! There's a new Pop Contest tomorrow and that one should do much better now that more people are finding out about the contest from all the resteems , spreading more awesome Positivity on steemit !! Loving it my friend ! Looking forward to your entry next week !! Steem on !ππππππ
Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit World Map!
Go Check It Out At: http://SteemitWorldMap.com
Beautiful post! Thanks for sharing @therovingreader. Have a nice weekend!
I hope you're having a loving weekend too!
It's cute!
I've got an opportunity to get close with Dolphins also but not to swim with them, you're so blessed to join them swimming...how did you feel them? By the way nice shots of them. Thanks for sharing.
Oh, this was spectacular. I have not been obsessed with dolphins before, but you may have created a new thing to nerd out over. I need to do this now!
I obviously recommend it! Dolphins are really interesting, and it seems like more and more research comes out every day confirming their intelligence.
Are there any coral reefs nearby? I'm certified to scuba but haven't had a chance to do it in years. Trying to get my husband to get certified so we can do it together. Did anyone scuba with your program or is it all snorkeling?
Absolutely, there are a lot of great reefs! We snorkeled at Bimini Road and Three Sisters and one other site that I forget the name of. There's also a shipwreck somewhere in the area. We saw lots of tropical fish, rays, one turtle, and reef sharks.
Our group only had snorkelers and I don't think Wildquest itself has scuba equipment, but there are probably outfitters in the area.
That is a great adventure, something that I would like to try someday. Do read about my Trans-Mongolia adventure, it is also fun as well.
Traversing The World Largest Island And The World Largest Lake In A Russian Army Jeep
Awesome! I've been wanted to go to Mongolia for a while, particularly since I love their music. Maybe we'll swap adventures some day, haha.
They have throat singers in Mongolia. But my biggest adventure was the horseback riding experience.
Nice post, that is very interesting we can swim with dolphins at that place :)
They're supposedly the friendliest dolphins in the world there!
Sounds and looks awesome thank you for sharing.
That was amazing. I was definitely imagining myself there. My favorite picture was the very first one with the wise old dolphin looking straight into the camera with a knowing eye. Wow.
Thanks for the great narrative also. We can learn a lot from dolphins. Carefree. Not stressing on the past or the future. Family oriented. Present. Fun!
Awesome post. Thanks. Cheers .
PS you just added another thing to my bucket list.
It's a worthy bucket list item! I love that first picture too. It's estimated spotted dolphins live between 30 and 40 years, so that one was likely far older (and far, far wiser) than me.
Oh cool fact. It's just so amazing to see the intelligence in their eyes.
I absolutely love this post. The writing the video. Absolutely super. Thank you for sharing. :)
Thanks for all the bot-upvote-love, and I'm glad you enjoyed! :)
This post has received a 3.13 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @dreamingirwin.
Sooo great! Dolphins always make you feel good :D @therovingreader
I also write about my travels check it out :)
Followed and upvoted
upvote and follow me @zalb together we can succeed and share interesting stories!
This post has received a 24.00 % upvote from @lovejuice thanks to: @dreamingirwin. They have officially sprayed their dank amps all over your post rewards. GOOD TIMES! Vote for Aggroed!
Hey Katie, I really love how you write and how much effort you put here. I think you deserve waay more rewards than what you are getting. You havenΒ΄t been nominated for about 3 weeks now so I guess we are good for a new nom. You know the drill, can I nominate this post for @ocd daily?
Schwee!
Hi Eric! Thanks as always for the compliments, and I accept! Schwee!
I'm doing a curation post to celebrate getting 100 followers on steemit. Do you mind if I use a photo from this post in my curation post?
Go ahead and congratulations! :)
I love this post and your pictures are amazing π I have been swimming with dolphins as a kid but my dream is to do it again, and this post really wakes that dream to life π truly amazing to se.
Cool video, the ocean is breathtaking.
Thank you for sharing. Followed Upvoted
No problem. I enjoyed your post and thought it was undervalued. :)
Hey Katie,
I just wanted to drop you some love here for this wonderful addition to @karenmckersie's #popcontest! Lucky me, I got to help her judge and as such, be exposed to all these wonderful stories.
I love your writing, it reminds me of how I like to tell a story, using imagery to keep the reader wanting more! Of course I couldn't stop reading this because of 1) well the dolphins of course but also your connection to their life, learning some valuable lessons from nature (which I am all for!) I also had a lifechanging experience swimming with these creatures so am delighted to see someone else who might be benefiting from the same surge of happiness they provide ;)
All the best to you my dear, Steem on <3
Hey @heart-to-heart! Thanks for reading and being a judge on this amazing contest! I'd love to hear about your experience with the dolphins, too. I'm daily amazed by how much we can learn from nature, whether it's a spider or a tree or a whale.
Aww wonderul write up, one of the best I've ever seen.
Thank you again! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :D
Too bad I cannot see the video on copyright grounds (WMG) in my country. If you could upload it to dtube.video or bitchute.com I'd very much like to see it.
Oh man, that's why I like using original music in videos nowadays. Here's the DTube link: https://dtube.video/#!/v/therovingreader/xobqh4ya
a new pop contest has started and im looking forward to another awesome positive post from you ! Thanks !πβππ
Katie! I wrote a ten page report in the tenth grade on communicating with dolphins, so I am, obviously, one of the world's foremost authorities on them. I also watch the movie The Incredible Mr Limpet every few years, so I know that if I meet a dolphin wearing glasses, it's probably actually Don Knotts. I'd like to have this experience someday, you've given me another idea about what I must includ in my travels. I've never swam with dolphins and I'm looking to change that. Also, I would bet that the playful dolphin was not coincidence. Obviously you have powers akin to Aquaman. You must use these powers for good, with great power comes great responsibility.
Oh my god, I bow down to your qualifications. I've been too afraid to watch the Incredible Mr Limpet because the trailer sort of creeps me out.
Every so often, I consider devoting my powers to saving the world's oceans but I'm just too darn selfish. So instead I'll just encourage others to help the oceans haha. Definitely try to include some wild dolphin encounters in your travels! They are wonderful.
Wow, it's amazing! They are so beautiful! π
I live in Ft Lauderdale FL I love dolphins great post.
Well, I'm sold. Definitely going.
YESS! Do it! So worth the splurge.