Swimming with the Dolphins in Hawaii

Ever since I was little, I had a dream of swimming with dolphins.

For some reason, it is one of my favorite animals. I saw them countless times swimming in groups and playing happily in seas and oceans, I caressed them in aquariums, but for some reason each time that I set out to go someplace to swim with them, something came up and the plan would collapse…:(:(

So,when I got the opportunity to go give a speech about “personal development” at an event in Hawaii, I jumped with excitement!!! And this because the hotel where I would stay had an artificial lake with dolphins and, of course, I’d be able to arrange to swim with them. This time I was determined to make it happen no matter what!!

I’ve heard so much about the therapeutic energy that they exert on people. These exceptionally intelligent and sensitive mammals, with their happy tail and their smiling faces are said to help everything from depression to autism when they come into contact with humans. Several centers exist globally which accept people in for medicinal purposes.

During the entire trip, songs such as “Hawaii 5-0” came to my mind:):)

I arrived in Honolulu late and the sun had already set. This did not prevent me upon arrival from jumping straight away into the ocean and swimming in the warm water. I had missed swimming in warm and inviting waters.

I had the greatest surprise when I discovered that my hotel room was  adjacent  to the artificial lake with the dolphins. When I went out to the porch and saw the dolphins swimming right in front of me, 6 feet from my bed and inches from the lounge chair on my veranda, I screamed with joy and started calling all my buddies ,

Next door the event party was under way and so the evening passed with beautiful girls wearing traditional dresses and covered with flowers, skillfully shaking their bodies to the dazzling tunes of Hawaiian music, with majestic smells, exotic tastes and cocktails. I returned to the room with the full moon as a bonus over my head and with the 6 dolphins next to me all night, their cute voices mixed with the nostalgic Hawaiian music reminding me my good fortune of being able to caress them from my porch!

I fell asleep gently, anxious about the next day when I would finally have the chance to swim with them.

I awoke with joy, enjoying the view which is really fascinating. Hawaii has a wild and exotic beauty, with hills, countless very green palm trees, strong winds, sudden rains, inviting beaches and amazing flower arts which seem impossible to be real; you have to touch them to make sure that they are not plastic.

At our morning appointment with the dolphins everything was very well organized, with attention to every last detail, with special care for everyone’s safety. There I had the opportunity to meet in person ,all 6 male dolphins which had never come into contact with female dolphins in their life. The oldest one was 28 years-old and the youngest 12 and they all had been born in captivity.

I learned a lot about them, such as the fact that they have bipolar vision and so we should not touch them on the head, that in their natural habitat they don’t live as long as they do in captivity, that they can never sleep deeply because they will suffocate. I also learned about their nutrition and that they are trained by observing hand movement and not voice commands. I caressed them, I kissed them, I swam with them, I learned how to play with them while protecting myself and them.

Their skin is rubbery and I felt awed that I could be so close to them and able to hug them. I also felt their eyes upon me and wondered what they thought when I touch them. They did twists and spins in the air for my sake and a bunch of amazing tricks. In other words, an entire show! Everything was just fine, with beautiful pictures and certainly with more knowledge than before about their habits.

Yet why did I not feel happy after that?

I had always wanted to experience it; to come closer to my beloved such animals. Nevertheless, I left with a big hole in my heart, emptier than before. I could dare say that I felt “tortured.”

For some reason my favorite TV series “Twilight Zone” came to mind. The episode where an astronaut from earth arrives on another planet populated with people who are very friendly towards him. So friendly that they have already built an amazing house for him with all the comforts that any man would dream of. They have even equipped it with his favorite drink and he is delighted until he discovers that he is actually located in an extraterrestrial zoo and he is in captivity and on display! He is surrounded by all these extraterrestrials that are inspecting him; calling him; want to tease him, or to touch him…

All of a sudden, it was as if I had put myself in the place of the dolphins and felt imprisoned in a circus where I was obligated to learn how to jump high when they clap, to do tricks and twists when the instructor blows the whistle, where dozens of people would yell at me at the same time twenty four hours a day and with all of them bothering me from the porches of their rooms!

Horrible!
I don’t know but even though everyone assured me that:

• –  Dolphins are very sociable animals, they love people and they like to play and to jump in their natural environment.
• –  They live longer lives of better quality in captivity, protected from danger and with medical care and guaranteed nutrition.
• –  People have the opportunity to learn about them and thus to awaken their ecological consciousness and to spread the knowledge.

  I felt that:
  Sure, they love people, but they choose whether and when they will play and they will jump and spin. Now why they love us when we have polluted their natural habitat, we kill them to eat them, or we carelessly fish them, I don’t know – but that’s another topic.

   

  Let’s assume anyway that they are so “advanced spirits” that they forgive and that they “love their neighbor as themselves.” Now how close is the neighbor allowed to be is also another matter…

  And finally, as the Greek Independence fighters used to say, “better one hour of freedom than 40 years of slavery and captivity!”

  I don’t know if it’s me, since I am by nature a free spirit, or whether this is indeed the case. I am simply expressing how I felt. Please don’t misunderstand me, I don’t mean to be ungrateful. I am certainly blessed to have been able to live this wonderful opportunity, blessed that I had the opportunity to come into contact with these gifted creatures in this paradise of dreams called Hawaii. And certainly the fact that I learned so much about them is also important knowledge.

  I, however, from now on, whenever I would hear their cute voices I wasn’t sure whether they were cries of joy or an primitive call to join their brothers, those fortunate creatures that live in the ocean; a primeval need to be in their natural environment with all the negatives and positives; closer to freedom…

  Maybe in the end a few need to be sacrificed for the sake of the many. Maybe some of them need to remain in captivity, so that ecological consciousnesses are awakened and people have a chance through their direct contact with them to learn more about them, to protect the many.

  But after this experience nothing was the same. When I dove into the ocean again, as I was swimming I noticed that most hotel guests preferred the swimming pool. Only a few swam in the ocean, even though the water is shallow, warm, and friendly.

  Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle:

  Some of us feel well in the protection that captivity offers us or, shall we say, our “safety zone.” We choose to live our life in the protection offered by our “private swimming pool.” There we are certain not to fall into the “net of careless fishermen” or to be eaten by “sharks.” We are accustomed to the idea that we can exist within these specific limits, physical or mental.

  Some call this a compromise, some call it reason, others security. A few others have never even considered the issue and are content and happy in what they were given and what they have known since birth.

  Maybe that’s how the dolphin’s that were born in captivity feel, that I don’t know…

  Others of us take risks, we want to explore possibilities and we prefer adventure, knowing that security is the last thing that will exist in our lives. We need to learn more than what we are being taught and to confirm for ourselves whether what they taught us was true. We are not afraid to change our life because we believe that “change is good.”

  What is familiar appears safe. “Better the devil you know” as our British friends say. On the other hand, something which is unfamiliar and intimidates you, when you conquer it becomes familiar and  becoming. It’s just like learning how to drive: At first it scares you, but then you say: Why didn’t I learn sooner?”

  I personally belong in the second category because I don’t want to mourn the things that I did not do. I have the firm belief that he who dares wins and I am not afraid to change careers, countries, or situations. The only thing I fear is that I might change my mind about things that I did not dare try, those that I did not find the strength to follow, the paths that I shied away from exploring… Besides, what stays motionless becomes a swamp and, truth be said, I prefer the open sea to the swimming pool:):)

  My life has proven to me that fortune favors the bold even though I am not ashamed to say that I did not come out unscathed from my choices. I did not come out unmarked from my exploration. I insist, however, in seeing these marks as trophies, as a profit, because I live each moment with passion and I don’t regret this choice of mine for a second! My scars are my pride, my experience, the luxury of my having a choice and capitalizing it accordingly!

  Is this optimism, boldness, or insanity?

  I don’t know and I don’t care:):)

  What I do know for sure is that the next time I would like to swim with the dolphins in the ocean; in the nature where they belong. Because that is where I feel that we all ultimately belong. Besides I feel that we are all protected from “above” until we fulfill our goal. And this conviction urges me to jump out of the “fish bowl” to the wide, the unexplored ocean…

  What about you?:):)