Dolphin Address 20 2003
July 31, 2003
Out of laziness I used to call it 'the salt wall', but that is nonsense. One side of the wall is as salt as the other. If you look closer you see numerous small bells, that, in massive or in tight gusts, are impenetrable for the eye. It is a phenomenon that presents itself at the beginning of the rising tide until a depth of about 4 meters. For obvious reasons I call it 'fizz'.
It might be caused by waves, as a froth, worked through the water, but more probably it is caused by differences in temperature. The deeper the water, the thinner the layer of bells. The warmed, not by the tide refreshed water, seems to be pushed to the coast, by the colder influx. In the 'fizz' you have little 'viz', but in deeper water, it helps to dive.
Dusty was unusually quiet today. Normally she comes to me like: ' Hi there, lover boy, where are them pretty fins going?'. Now she came along inconspicuously and initially let herself be caressed resignedly. As I swam and dived with her we got into a body conversation.
Foto: Verena Schwalm
Dusty had thought of something to overcome the restrictions of the fizzviz. She swims under me on her back more often, but now she did it systematically. Also when she surfaced, or waited for me down at the seabed, she turned her pale white belly towards me, so I could see her much better.
That she was conscious of the effect of her maneuvers I could tell by how she behaved towards others. One of the participants this afternoon is named Ken and he drives a canoe. As he disturbed the interaction between Dusty and me time and again, I got to name him 'Kenoesance'. A fast canoe is too tempting for Dusty, but every time she came back to me I saw her turn up her belly as soon as she entered my viz.
The past week I have been looking at a spectre, the spectre of supposed perfection. I thought I'd seen it all. And for the first time after a week I go into the water and find I only have to look, it's all there.
Jan Ploeg, Fanore meadow, July 31st 2003
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