Dolphin Address 14
June 1th 2008
The best water is in the early morning. It was as smooth as glass and had a pristinity that was fluently articulated by the bended edge of breakerettes that met their rest upon the sandy strand. My eye was caught by a dark stroke. There must be a cause for that and my binoculars proved me right. I saw Rod’s familiar head-with-pipe and quite close the silhouette of a submerging dolphin.
I violently suppressed the tendency to jump into my wetsuit as I know what it is like to swim alone with her.
So I spread a double sandwich with garlic cheese and two thin-cut cherry tomatoes.
Meanwhile Rod and Dusty were coming to a closure.
This was my moment. I pulled my wetsuit outside out and just after Rod came out I walked in. For sure I kept the waterwing close to me, but also when I rattled the anchor chain the water stayed empty except for vast schools of sand eel (the sand eel scandal: in Denmark they are incinerated in energy plants). These hardly change their formation when I dive near them, but splatter out when the dolphin arrives. High time to have my diving bottle filled. Not only because of the allure of the underwater existence, but also for a plan. I know how to blow ringbubbles and want to video the dolphin’s reaction from the seabed.
After a long, deep dive I rest a while. Over my left shoulder someone rests with me. So still she lies, as if in the feeljoy of dolce far niente. I turn halfway and drum my fingers on the waterwing, by way of sound. I do the final solo of Gene Krupa from the 1939 Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall concert. She listens with her eyes.
And suddenly she is gone. When I swim towards the weeds she slowly comes from under me like a celestial body. Just after that I dive deep and turn on my back. Then something funny happens. I bump into something soft. This need not have happened. Her avoidance technique is flawless. I wonder, try to understand this. Her prey behaviour, to approach from behind, is well-known. Now I was swimming backwards. Did I surprise her? Did she show displeasure? What a delicious bone to chew on.
Then I see her criss-cross cruising at high speed deep underneath me.
All is and ends well. She swims with me until knee deep water. Then I see her fluke prints welling up and away. This makes my day.
Jan Ploeg, White Strand, June 1st 2008
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