Dolphin Address 11
August 20, 2004
Dusty loves toys, and frolics even better. Pollenawatch under water is mainly level ground rock surface. When I rolled a large rock rattling over the rock bed Dusty followed me on the fin. As long as my breath permitted I took up other stones and arranged them around.
Dusty moved in the highest state of attention. I dived down again to roughly 4 meters and continued my stack, that, each time I went up for breath, was minutely inspected by the dolphin. Ultimately I have added stones about twenty times, followed emphatically by Dusty, who held her beak pointed in my armpit.
Still she did not obstruct my one movement. It seemed as if the frown on her forehead asked: 'Why?' My idea was to build an acoustic tower for her, a sound sculpture for her sonaric ability. It lasted only one tide. The next day I found nothing left.
Dusty knows people as floating bodies. Even though some venture to go below the surface for a short time, they usually hasten to return. The longer such a visit lasts, the more she appreciates it with her attention. Sometimes I dive to the seabed and hold myself to a stem of kelp weed. Then I do not have to exert myself against buoyancy so I can stay down a relative long time, about 2 minutes. This she finds tremendously intriguing.
She lays herself partly against me and when I finally let go she subjects the stem to a detailed sonar investigation. The other day I took hold of a stem that had rooted upon a small boulder. Shortly I drifted up with the stem and the boulder. This exhilarated her so much, that she circled me full speed and even jumped half out of the water. What's going on in her head?
Dusty seems fond of playing hide and seek. It can also be interpreted as prey behavior, the approach, usually from the rear, outside the field of vision of the swimmer. When she swims into the haze in front of you, you try to figure out in time and place where and when she will reappear. This is only seldom correct. Before you know she pops up somewhere behind you. The speed of a dolphin never ceases to astound.
At Pollenawatch there are quite a few submarine rock groups. That is where Dusty likes to play hide and seek. I see her then, swimming around a rock and dive down at the corner where she will soon appear. When my breath has gone and she still is not there, then I know and indeed, she lays behind me with a broad grin.
Jan Ploeg, Fanore Meadow, August 20th 2004
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