Swimming with Dolphins

We hadn't planned to go swimming that day.

We planned on seeing some historical sights, visit a coffee plantation and give our sunburns a day off. But when we got to Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, the City of Refuge, there were dolphins in the bay.

Spinner dolphins.

We could see them jumping out of the water, twisting and spinning in the air, before their sleek bodies dove under the water again.

Kevin and Zach ran back to the car for their swimsuits.

I didn't.

I had good excuses. I was comfortable in the warm Hawaii sun and wasn't sure I could swim out far enough in the ocean surf. Plus the ranger said the dolphins were there almost every day so I figured I'd go the next day.

The dolphins weren't there the next day.

I chose comfort and solid ground and keeping my toes dry. And I missed my chance to swim with dolphins.

"You could hear the dolphins chirping and clicking to each other as they swam all around us," said Zach when he came in, dripping with sea water and eyes wide with ocean wonders.

"They seemed to be swimming in pairs," added my husband, goose bumps on his skin, not entirely from the cool air on the beach. "Yet they were part of a large goup of fifty or more. They would come up for breath in one fluid motion. Sometimes slowly rising. Other times jumping in the air and spinning."

"We soon figured out that they were swimming in a large circle," continued Kevin, "so we quit trying to chase them and let them circle around us."

"They were wild," said Zach, an echo of his father in his face, in his voice, in his heartsong, "but we swam right next to them. Then they dove underneath me, and I could see them in the clear, deep water."

A chance for adventure.

Risk taking.

Going out in deep water.

I hesitated and my opportunity was gone.

In the book Just Courage, Gary Haugen writes, "For many of us the boundary of our range of action is determined by our ultimate fears."

So whether it was fear or comfort or laziness that kept me from jumping into the water, this I do know--You can't swim with dolphins if you keep your feet on the shore.