'Flipper' Sends a Message!
On 1st January 2014, whilst many people were recovering from New Year's Eve parties, my dad and I were diving in Egypt. We set off from our hotel to go on a day's diving; neither of us knew what was to come. We had already been diving for four days, but this day was going to be like no other.
After doing two long dives, one drift down to 25 metres and another to 19.5 metres (where I was fighting against a strong current), both dives were just like any other dive. Visibility was as clear as anything - up to 20 metres plus - which in January would be nothing we could hope for on the English coast line… and only diving in wetsuits!
But the true experience was nowhere near these two fantastic dives. The day was coming to an end. As we went into the harbour, when out of nowhere came the sight of a dolphin. Any divers dream is to dive with dolphins in the wild and there it was, right in front of us. Sadly all the cylinders were empty from the dive, but I decided that I was not going to let this experience go to waste, so I ran and got changed into a swimming costume as quickly as I could, grabbed my mask and fins, while my dad set up the camera and persuaded the crew to let me jump off the boat. Within minutes, I was off the boat and swimming as fast as I could, to get as close as possible to the dolphin. With my new dive video-camera attached to my mask, I was ready for an experience of a life time. After years of diving, I had been waiting for this moment. Here I was, living it! It was like a dream come true.
After not too long, I saw the dolphin coming towards me. It came so close; I could almost touch its skin. The beautiful creature then started to swim away; I stayed where I was, not wanting to spook it. Then it came back and I realised that, this intelligent animal wanted me to follow it, so I did. Along the way, I played with the dolphin. I was very tired, after doing two dives; the dolphin seemed to realise that I was struggling to keep up and slowed down, starting to swim at my side like a Labrador heeling at its owners side. After a while, the dolphin started to play around me, but then it stopped. The dolphin then started to get nervous, because other people had come to try to get closer and tried to stroke it. It soon swam away from them and back to me.
I followed it further, until it dived down. Not wanting to risk going down deeper after two dives and with no snorkel, I decided to stay on the surface of the water. I was not expecting what happened next… The dolphin had brought up some rubbish from the bottom of the harbour, which had stuck on its back fin. I started to try and get it off it and as soon as I did it swam away into the distance. The dolphin then came up and made two massive splashes with its tail, as if to say 'thank you'. It came back to me and bowed its head and made a 'dolphin squawk' sound, as if it was saying 'thank you' again. It then found another bag and got it stuck around its middle fin, this time it was a lot harder to take off. It meant that I had to touch the dolphin’s sensitive skin, to help take it off and as I did, it tried to get it off also, but instead, it became more stuck. After a while it gave up and let me take it off. When the dolphin realised that the bag had gone, it stopped and looked at me, as if I was something it had never seen before and then started to move slowly towards me as if I was a mouse - and it was a cat - and then it came up so close that I could touch it.
The dolphin let me stroke its nose. I did this very gently because of its sensitive skin and it felt like something I have never felt before. It was truly magical. After playing with the dolphin some more, in a classic kids game of 'chase', we separated, as if to say goodbye. It spoke in 'dolphin speak' and I replied by 'clicking' back. As if by magic, the dolphin seemed to understand me and 'clicked' back! It was almost as if the dolphin had a voice. If it could, I believe it would be saying, “please help us clean our oceans, help us survive and be safe”.
As I got back from the long swim, I was shocked and overwhelmed with the joy of having a dream come true - I had finally managed to swim with a dolphin in the wild.
For the first time in my life, I was actually speechless. But it also made me realise, the harsh reality of what we, as humans are doing to our precious marine life. We are damaging their homes and we are slowly wiping out our marine life with our rubbish. It's not much to ask, to pick up your rubbish, when on the beach. As divers and friends of the sea, we have seen the damage it is causing and we need to be the first to help change this situation. We need to start doing it now! Join and help the rubbish clear ups on beaches and if you are not local to a beach, or the sea like myself, do tell your friends and neighbours the following: "do not leave your rubbish behind on our beaches, pick rubbish up when you see it, even if it's not yours and help to save our friends, the dolphins and other marine life in the sea!". I hope you can all help, as divers or as friends of the sea. Thank you.