Dolphin Address 31
July 28th 2005
It is commonly known that sometimes you don't really know what you got until you miss it. I just happened on an interesting variation today.
I had been swimming with Dusty every day for over two weeks. This is not like a recreational dip in the pool. It may seem so in the beginning, but as soon as Her Silvership appears I am drawn into her wake and try to get as close as she lets me. And she can be a cruel mistress in all her splendor. When we go deep it sometimes feels I can stay there forever, but I know that if I stretch it too long I will pass out without warning.
My feelings reluctantly pass command to my brain and I decide to go cut the surface while Dusty does another lazy turn. She has eight minutes; I max at two, maybe two and a half if I save oxygen by getting hold of a kelp stem.
In the relative heat of the moment my power is inspired by her presence, but when I finally crawl out on a rock gravity kicks in and I am dead-beat. As my feet hurt on the sharp uneven rocks I stagger painfully to the high spot where I threw my diving boots secure from the rising tide.
Then, for the first 15 minutes, I am only present in the flesh.
The last few days I felt the exhaustion eating me out, so I decided to take a day of and take it easy on the meadow. I felt like I had neglected its quiet beauty, using it only for sleeping.
While I was chilling out my eyes could not help roaming over the vast salty stretch, serenely hoping to spot something dolphin. Some black spots binocularized turned out to be cormorants feeding and the rest was silence.
My attention peaked when I saw an alien pattern in the waves that stood out against the rest. It did not look like dolphin upsweeps nor like washing around submerged rocks which I knew not to be there. It had to be something rather substantial, which ruled out a single fish, though not a shoal. Theoretically it could be a seal or maybe an otter but it did not really move.
Meanwhile the wind changed direction and the spot moved slowly in southern direction. I kept an eye on it for nearly three hours draining my imagination to find some acceptable explanation for this intrigue.
Maybe it is good to have a mystery. If every question fills in its own answer we might stop asking. The unknown holds something very exciting and inspiring.
I did not know what I missed, but I did have some very nice fantasies.
Jan Ploeg, Meadow Fanore, July 28th 2005
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