Swim with the Dolphins

I was wearing contact lenses at the time so couldn’t open my eyes underwater to see them. I decided to sacrifice one of my lenses and opened my left eye while under the water – and of course lost it. I felt an incredible sense of joy and excitement wash over me as several of the dolphins swam within a couple of feet of my presence. And there we were eye to eye. They were making the most amazing sounds under water that sounded very much like a high pitched squeaking. It seemed like time did not exist and we did not experience any sense of being cold in the water. Nor did we feel tired even after swimming with them for a couple of hours. They would spiral around us, interact for quite a while, and then swim away. The three of us would then huddle together and share our excitement and our personal experiences. Then in our incredulous sense of joy, we again rang out in chorus our song. It seemed that our joyous energies beckoned the dolphins to return, as if to say we love your song and your energy and joined us with their own songs. It was incredible, I felt so ecstatic, my heart burst with love and joy and I felt like I had come home to my family in the sea. As I would feel these waves of excitement, one or two of the dolphins would spiral around me and begin spinning and leaping out of the water. (these are the Spinner Dolphins common in Hawaii) They would again swim so close chattering, like they were saying “isn’t it great to be in joy and in the bliss of the moment”. They then headed out to sea, encouraging us to head back to shore – and they were gone. It wasn’t until then that we realized the water was actually a little rough and the waves were fairly high. We took our time, stayed together and slowly swam back to the beach. We then sat on the warm sand and shared how blessed we felt and were in awe of what we just experienced. The day was totally amazing. The sun was shining and the sand was a bright white in contrast with the black lava rocks and the beautiful aqua green colour of the ocean. There was no one else for miles around. As if the day could not be more complete, whilst we lay soaking up the warm rays of the sun, we heard a deep voice say “Hello Ladies”. It was ‘Dolphin Dave’, an entertainer that we met at the retreat. He is known as Dolphin Dave because of his many close connections with the dolphins and the whales. He arrived with several pieces of bamboo and he showed us how to make our own didgeridoos. This is an instrument often connected to the Aborigines from Australia, that one blows into and with ‘circular breathing’ create some amazing sounds. The dolphins are conscious breathers and are – as the whales – very attracted to the sounds of the didgeridoos.

It was one of the most amazing days I have ever experienced in my life. As the months went by, I found myself often going back to those moments in my thoughts. The more I reconnected with that joy, the more I wanted to share this experience with others. I decided I wanted to facilitate retreats in Hawaii so that others could experience this feeling of ecstasy as well. I spoke with many people from the islands and researched the many things required to make it an incredible experience. I found that the big Island lends itself to safer swims with the dolphins and discovered an awesome retreat house to rent located at one of the bays the dolphins frequent. Immediately I contacted Dolphin Dave and arranged to have him fly to the Big Island so that we would all experience his amazing humour, love and wisdom. He could also teach us to make our own didgeridoos and entertain us with his musical talents and joyful playful antics. In fact, when we go out on our boat trip, he plays his drums and didgeridoos as the sounds call in the whales and the dolphins. It is quite an amazing scene as our boat leaves the dock. You can see those on shore observing us in envy as we are all dancing and grooving to the rhythm of the drums and the deep melodious notes of the didgeridoo. And in no time we are surrounded by pods of dolphins that have come to join in our joyful play. I have since met many local entertainers and hire ‘swimming angels’ to assist in the swims. I also hire an amazing caterer – Todd – who knows how to blend the most incredible organic foods and creates orgasmic mouth watering sensations that nurture our bodies and satisfy the hunger pangs of anyone’s appetite. And, there are many others that have become part of the retreat experience. I just kept imagining what I would want to experience and created that for those that join our Dolphin retreat.