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You can’t make appointments with wild dolphins. They show up when they want to.

That is the mystery. When they do show up they want to play. But you have to time it right.

I had been waiting and watching for 2 weeks every day going down to Kealakekua Bay and City of Refuge to see if they were frolicking in the Bay at 6:30AM.

They weren’t. I was missing them and their sonar sounds, their playful intoxicating presence that makes your spirit soar.

Cherri came out from Canada for my dolphin retreat and on morning 3 at 6:30AM I vigilantly found myself at the edge of a holy Heaiu – that’s Hawaiian for yes this is a sacred spot – and scanning the water for a flipper or spinner dolphin – any part would do.

Nothing. I looked far out at the horizon. Didn’t see them.

So i turned the car on and started to back away slowly.

Wait. Was there movement out there? 6 to 700 feet away is a little far to tell but I saw something move. Sometimes its just a wave or a snorkeler.

This time it was a tail or a head coming up for air!

Ecstasy!

I bolted to get Cherri down the street.

Driving to her door I could barely contain my excitement. The cars in front of me were crawling.

Don’t you know wild dolphins are in the bay?!

“They’re here!” I shouted to Cherri at her front door.

Her smile lit up the room. We dashed back to the Bay – it was walking distance but driving was faster.

Now we had to fight the waves to get in the Bay. But the waves weren’t so big. I got in first after a biggish wave knocked one of us down. But we were still going – the dolphins were out there.

The trick is to get in the ocean quickly and start swimming before another wave crashes on the rocks under your feet.

We’re in. It’s a long way to swim. I’ve never seen the dolphins that far out. So far out I could barely see them. Were we going to have to swim for a mile?

We kept swimming. After about 200 feet I started getting tired but knew they were out there – we had to keep going. I lifted my head above the water to try and see where they were.

Didn’t see anything.

Suddenly a group of fins were steadily swimming towards us. There was purpose in those fins charging through the turquoise water.

I tried to yell to Cherri but couldn’t be heard since her head was underwater festooned with snorkel gear so I kept on — all of a sudden a group of 12 dolphins surrounded us swimming all around on either side of us, under us, next to us, careening crazy close.

I almost cried i was so happy.

They came to see us!

I felt their aloha all over us – saying hello for 2 minutes – gleefully swimming around us and then…

Suddenly they all were leaving they had somewhere to go.

It was the finest 2 minutes of my recent life.

This is what Cherri said here:

Join us in 2015.

Learn more and apply to come with us here:

vagabondtravelmag.com/dolphin-and-photo-safari-hawaii/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Led by Mary, the CEO of Fun

And really, isn’t life about having fun and living your dreams? YES!