Ricci Schwarzler - Dolphin

Curved fins curved in and out of the water. Bobbing along around us. I jumped in to join them. Googles clear, no scuba. A large breath and down I went. They moved fast and slow around me. I dived to 3m and held my breath as long as I could. Watching them engage with each other. What were they thinking? ‘What’s she doing here?’ or ‘Oh how nice she came to visit us.’

I remained vertical, spinning around slowly. They came gracefully closer to me. I reached out but didn’t touch them. Quietness, calm and serenity all around me. Nothing other than these gorgeous creatures.

Yes, I know they do have some bad habits, but don’t we all?

I kicked my legs and pushed to the surface. Another couple of large breaths and down again. Into the dark. It was a cloudy day. Visibility was ok. The water was clear, but the darkness only gave me 10m vision.

They were gone.

Bugger!

I waited as long as I could and they joined me again, but again I headed for the surface. More breaths, down again. Circling slowly, they waited for me. They knew I couldn’t stay down like them. Just as I would know they couldn’t stay out of the water.

This time I flipped my legs and went horizontal. I flippered like a mermaid and swam next them. They enjoyed the game and swam slowly to stick by me. Then darted off as if to say, ‘You can’t catch us!’

Back to the surface. I really need to do some free-diving training.

Back down again.

They came whizzing back as if showing off. I tried to go faster with them, but it was no hope. We played like this for about 20mins. Each time I surfaced I could see the others on the boat were bored and wanted to head off. How could they not want to join me?

I had no idea if there were any sharks around and knew that the old saying about sharks and dolphins was not always correct. I didn’t care. I always said to my mother, ‘If I die in the surf or ocean Mum, don’t worry, I’ve had a good life and I couldn’t think of a better way to go’. Back to nature. Where I belong. Free, calm, quiet, suffocated by ocean.

I looked at my dolphin friends and tried to mimic their call…not very well, but I think they realised I was going. I waved a hand and kicked to the surface. Damn these human lungs. My friends in the boat looked up from their phones. My God, how could you be so ignorant to nature, to life!