Dolphin Encounter

While we should count every day as a privilege we’ve been granted, there’s no doubt that some days just end up being more special than others.  Yesterday pretty much pegged the amazing meter for me. About a mile and a half north of the island of St. Croix is another, much smaller place called Buck Island.  It’s actually called Buck Island Reef National Monument, and it includes the sea around the island with a reef filled with amazing coral and fish.  Karl and I have been there two other times, and it’s always worth the trip. (A little commercial here- we always take a tour with a company called Big Beard’s and they rock!  If you ever get to go to Buck Island – this is the best way to go.) Yesterday we went with friends from Wyoming, Katie and Henry and Diego.

For the first stop on the all-day trip, the tour takes you to Turtle Beach – a beautiful stretch of white, powdery sand.  This is the spot to test your equipment and get your snorkeling perfected before moving around the island to the stunning coral reefs and the unbelievable fish there. 

We were winding down our time at Turtle Beach.  Karl had taken my snorkel gear back to the boat and Katie and I were looking for baby turtle tracks and walking the beach.  All of a sudden people were getting excited.  A pod of dolphins were playing about 40 yards off shore.  People in the water were heading out to them, and I was lamenting that I didn’t have my gear, when Karl came running down the sand with them.  We threw on the fins and snorkels and started kicking out.  Katie stayed on shore, and yelled at me once that the dolphins were moving to my right, so I changed direction and started kicking hard.  They were traveling away from us.

Then.  I could hear little clicks and snippets of an eerie melody coming through to me from the water, and then.  Karl and I were surrounded by five dolphins.  A mom and baby below us, two large ones close enough to touch.  They were near only a short time, but they acknowledged us, eye contact.  They greeted us, checked us out, and then leisurely swam past.

What an incredible gift.  Knowing that they were headed away from us then turned around to meet us, makes me wonder why.  Did they enjoy seeing us as much as we enjoyed seeing them?  I hope so.