DOLPHINS.

These graceful, majestic creatures have fascinated me since I first visited Sea World in Queensland in the early 70's. Although I now feel, as do so many others, that it is not generally  the right thing to keep dolphins in captivity, the Sea World dolphins seem to be well treated, and do appear to enjoy what they do.  I have been back a couple of times, the last time in 1990, and each time have felt a  magical quality and serenity when near them, even though they are not free.   In some places, captive dolphins have been returned to the wild, but it is not always successful. Wherever they are, they seem always to be happy, with their wonderful smile shaped mouths, and the joyous sounds they use to communicate with each other. I'm sure they are eager to communicate with us, too, and one day will find a way  to do just that. In the meantime, having dolphin crystals, paintings (my daughter did a fantasy painting for me, with me and a couple of dolphins), ornaments and jewellery, and almost anything else that comes in the shape of a dolphin,  around me, seems to help me understand the messages of peace and joy I believe they would like to convey to us.

I have been on a "Swim with the Dolphins in Port Phillip Bay (Victoria, Australia)" trip, but unfortunately it was the end of the season, and the water was very cold, and though we saw plenty dolphins from the boat, not too many came in close while we were in the water.  My sister and I, not being good swimmers, had to hang on to the ropes pretty tightly, so as not to get washed away, which took a lot of effort :-}.  Nonetheless, it was a fantastic experience.  We did have a couple of dolphins swim right underneath us, and my niece had one swim past less than a metre in front of her face!!  She was so shocked, she barely had time to get a photo, (using a disposable underwater camera), and  just managed to get his snout and his smile!!!  

But we know we were there with them, and we will try again some other time.  Here are a couple more pics taken on the day.

My son and some of his mates went to Perth, Western Australia, a couple of years ago, and from there up the coast to Monkey Mia, one of the first spots in Australia where wild dolphins started coming in to interact with humans on a regular basis.  I had read about it, and had wanted to go for a long time, but had not been able to, so he took lots of photos, and said "Hello" to them for me!!  There are many spots now, in Australia and worldwide, where these magnificent creatures come to visit us, and I really do think they are trying to convey to us that it is time we all tried harder to live in peace and harmony with our fellow man, and all the other creatures who inhabit this fantastic world of ours.

There are lots of great dolphin sites on the web, whether you are looking for info about their life and habitats, stories about dolphins who have befriended man in the past, legends about them or just want to look at pics.  Here are links to some of my favourite sites.

Some more of my dolphin pics