Swimming Elephants | Dining Dolphins

Last night we anchored in a little cove, among some grassy islands, on the Pungo River. It had rained most of the day. We were cold from being out in the wind and drizzle all day , protected only by a dodger, which is like a canvas awning, with some shape to it, that covers part of the sitting area in the cockpit of the boat. It does a fine job of keeping the water directly off of you along with shading you from the hot sun on better days.

It was my night to check in by cell phone with my kids and husband back at home. On this particular night, inside the boat, we had no phone signal at all. About 9:00PM, when free minutes on my cell phone start, I put my marine fowl weather jacket back on and went up on deck to get a better signal. It had actually stopped raining but was still cold, the water was calm and the only noise I detected was from another sailboard nearby running his engine to recharge its batteries or run power for an appliance he needed to use.

As I became accustomed to the drone of his engine I heard another noise. It sounded like the noise an elephant makes when it blows through it’s trunk to clear it after a drink of water. Not a trumpet but more like the air rushing through it but with some sound form the moisture remaining in it’s breath as well. Okay, so yes, I am on the water in North Carolina not Africa. There are not elephants here… and you are probably asking yourselves why would my mind even think of that? Some of you may know that in another post I mentioned that I lived on a farm where there were elephants, for eleven years. Until the moment I stood on the bow last night, trying to identify the noise I heard, I do not think, that even I, realized how much my time with the elephants has effected how I view the world.

I laughed at myself when I figured out that the boat was surrounded by at least three dolphins dining on fish. As my eyes adjusted to the near total darkness I struggled to see them. I could hear them on both sides of the boat, as close as twenty feet at times. Once or twice I could almost see the misty air they were expelling from the blow holes on top of their bodies as they breathed before going down under the water to feed again. It helped that I had seen one, do just this, right next to our boat, in the daylight a few days before.. Most of the noise that I heard was the water moving out of their way as they surfaced and then rushing back around them as they dove down again.

I decided I would talk to them, I felt silly but no one could hear me anyway. Wild dolphins, at least these, do not come when you whistle. I stopped trying to see them and spent a few moments just listening to them. I said aloud, God this is wonderful, thank you! A few moments later as I lay quietly in my berth, trying to get warmed up under the blankets, I thought I heard a dolphins voice. I drifted off to sleep poignantly remembering the days when I use to get to swim with the elephant.

I am so thankful for all these gifts.

If you have stories about the gifts you have enjoyed please feel free to post them in the comments area of my blog. Share your journey. We are all wave walkers….