Towards the end of the week though, I managed to get well enough to realise one of my life long travel dreams - swimming with the dolphins! Ever since I knew dolphins existed, I have wanted to swim with one. I saw my first dolphin in Florida at the age of 10 and now 16 years later, I am back in Florida for the second time, realising my dream.
There is something about travel and the feeling that you deserve to realise your dreams while you're there or you may not get the chance again. Dolphin Cove, the place where I swam, had a unique approach to dolphin swimming, in that all contact was initiated by the dolphins themselves and if they chose not to participate in the swim and interaction with me, they wouldn't have to. To my relief, both my assigned dolphins - 17 year old Alfonso and 7 year old Leo chose to take part. They swam under my hands, they swam under my hands so I could hold onto their fins and they pushed me along by feet. It was an amazing feeling to feel that they were the ones that had complete control and I was just like a dolphin toy! They felt like pieces of rubber covered in silk and were so unbelievably powerful and strong.
I also learned a great deal about an animal I thought I knew a lot about already. For example, did you know that mother dolphins name each of babies and can call them individually? Or that dolphins see an x-ray of your body when they look at you with echo-location?
Thank you Alfonso and Leo for making my dream come true!
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