Friday, June 17, 2011

Dolphin Love

My friend on her stand up paddleboard with dolphins. 



















Our bay is home to many dolphins and quite often we see them right up close to the shore as we walk along the beach.

It was the dolphins, on a crisp June morning many years ago, that helped us fall in love with the bay. Already blown away by the endless empty beaches, we were lying under a tree on the icing-sugar sand, gazing at the unbelievable blue of the bay, when a group of dolphins appeared in front of us, just a few metres off the beach, surfing into the shore. They really seemed to be playing - catching the tiny breakers and leaping with delight.

Last night we went for our usual walk. I had spent most of the afternoon in a gruelling tourism meeting  and needed a hit of sea air to remind myself why we live here and run this sometimes challenging business. (It's unusually quiet down here this winter in the B and B). One of my friends from the meeting had clearly had the same thought because there she was, despite the cool weather, riding the gentle waves at the mouth of the creek on her stand up paddleboard, a short distance away from us. I was waving and hollering to her when up popped the dolphins. Right underneath her.

Luckily Handy Husband had his handy camera in his pocket, so while I jumped up and down with unbridled, childlike enthusiasm at their proximity to her (and to us), he started snapping.

It's not unusual to see the dolphins so close. There are people in this village who make their living out of the reliability of seeing at least one pod every day somewhere in the bay, but as I say to HH every time we see them (and he laughs at me jumping up and down and pointing), the day I stop being excited about the dolphins is the day we pack up and go back to the city.

Anyway I'm supremely grateful to the dolphins. Who knows, without them we might not have fallen in love with the place, gone completely crazy one weekend and actually moved down here to live.

I've always fancied the idea of swimming with dolphins, but I also have a suspicion that it's not the done thing these days, like cuddling koalas. Not very eco-cool. What do you think? Can I? 


  

12 comments:

  1. You can Kate! Down there in the bay, if you were close to them, it'd be so lovely to swim around or near them. Would they like it? I've just loved seeing them close to us when in the kayak, it's always amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. great photo. what a gorgeous place you live!
    cheryl x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh wow, my children would love a close encounter with a dolphin. Bless their hearts, born & raised in Darwin (where you can't swim in the ocean - crocodiles, sharks, box jelly fish) & now we live in Canberra (only in land city). They love the ocean, ooppss. Love Posie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like a very serene place to live.

    ReplyDelete
  5. we see Dolphins in Port Phillip Bay, VIctoria. They make me smile

    ReplyDelete
  6. aaaah, i adore dolphins. Yes, you can swim with them, or more to the point, they can swim with you. You just have to be in the right place at the right time. Invite them and they will come. I can still picture the moment i saw dolphins diving out through the back of the waves at Byron Bay. have a great weekend. Jane x

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a lovely place you live in. I think the difference between swimming with Dolphins and cuddling a Koala, is the Dolphins can swim away if they're not into it. The Koalas are forced by their handlers.... Popping by via Maxabella. Great to find you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That sounds so lovely, although like you say I am sure it is a lot of difficult work running a B & B.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Kate,
    Just letting you know I met Leah of The Inside Story blog at her home atelier at Milton on Friday. She's lovely. I forgot to mention to her that you were thinking of having a blogger get-together, but I'm sure she'd love to come if you do.
    Beth x

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for all your lovely comments. I think I will put swimming with the dolphins on the bucket list, but somewhere with warmer water than it is here at the moment!
    @Beth. Thanks for awarding me with versatile blogger! I am thinking about what to write for it and will post a response soon. As regards a bloggy get-together, I think we should do it. Will think about that next week too. (Busy weekend with guests here - stretching into Tuesday).

    ReplyDelete
  11. If you are swimming there ....and the dolphins are swimming there in the same place at the same time....that's swimming with the dolphins, I think you each have the right. What a wonderful experience it would be, definitely for the Bucket List.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving some love in the B and B

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...