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Matisha

The Day *** Thursday, April 16, 1998

I sit here amidst spiraling feelings and emotions after the most amazing dolphin encounter to date. I feel very blessed to have had so many experiences, each one surpassing the previous encounter. In truth, every moment with these playful, gracious, graceful beings is a touch of the sweetness life offers.

Rose, our friend from Germany, and I headed out late morning in the kayak. Skies were beginning to cloud over, the water was a rich aqua, a color that always has me noticing it and breathing its beauty. We reveled at the clarity of the coral on the ocean floor, commenting on how good the visibility was going to be for us.

Shortly after paddling out, we saw the dolphins coming up for air, on the other side of the bay. They seemed to be staying to themselves, not really giving much attention to the people in the water. We decided to watch for a few minutes. They swam from one end of the bay to the other, underwater. After one of their passes by us, we gently entered the water. A few minutes went by and they swam by us again.

My back was hurting from a tight muscle, so I was not feeling like I was able to fully enjoy the experience. With a little disappointment, I swam back to our kayak, pulled myself up onto it, laid back, and rested for awhile. Rose swam by the kayak and I heard her say, "They are definitely not in interactive mode." I said half to myself, hoping for something more, "And that could change in a moment." By this time I was feeling a little grumpy about not being able to enjoy so, as I relaxed there. I called to the dolphins in my heart and asked them to come and assist me, if it worked into their day of play, enjoyment and rest.

I imagined myself gently sliding into the water and them swimming over to me, singing and encircling me, beaming me with that powerful, group song I had experienced as very healing ten years previous, while swimming with dolphins for my first time. A very few minutes went by and I felt the impulse to sit up. As I pulled myself to a sitting position, I questioned this impulse to sit up. I thought to myself, "Why am I sitting up now when it feels so good lying here?"

No sooner had I formulated the question when I looked to my right and saw a rather large pod swimming toward the kayak. "Well maybe they'll come close and want to spend a little time," I thought to myself. I heard my inner voice say, "They're coming over to be with you as you requested."

I put on my fins, mask and snorkel, gently slid into the water and dove down, instantly feeling like a dolphin as I swam in slow, dolphin-style fashion. All the excitement of the moment comes back to me as I write this now!

The pod numbered about sixty dolphins weaving intricate, gentle patterns all around me. A group of about seven came very close and surrounded me, while a couple swam along side of me looking in my eyes, singing. After a few seconds, they distanced themselves from me, and I heard this continuous note of The Song being repeated, while other dolphins sent their songs through the shimmering aqua-marine waters.

I immediately recognized this repeated note, as a note I heard sung ten years previous in Florida. (That morning in Florida I had a stiff neck and a knee that had been bothering me. After swimming with those dolphins and being in their song, I didn't remember my neck or knee had bothered me until about ten days later, when I realized the pain and stiffness went away that morning with the dolphins.) I knew something extraordinary was happening.

The next thing I knew, a young dolphin, I later discovered was a male, swam in front of me and turned to face me. He let me know clearly he wanted to play and take me through a few maneuvers, so I dove down to be with him. He got noticeably excited and started a slight shaking of his head. I twirled and spun in the water below him. He dove down and I came up, passing each other. I dove down and he came up to meet me and swam circles around me. We then floated on the surface of the water looking into each other’s eyes. I was over come with a feeling of deep love for his sweetness and playful behavior. While I was with him, (I call him Sheeno), on the last couple of twists and gentle turns he took me through, I realized he was preparing me for what was to come next. I noticed the adult dolphins he was swimming with before he started playing with me, gave us a lot of room to do our dance. As soon as I noticed their seemingly intentional offering in allowing our time together, these adult dolphins turned and began encircling me, singing out. Oh how that song resounded! I became overjoyed with the thoughts and pictures filling my mind, the power of emotion from our dance, and the intense feelings of communion.

The older dolphins encircling me swam closer and closer, each coming in for a look, or a chance to beam me, or whatever they were doing. Every direction I looked, there were dolphins. I felt something over me. By the time I turned to look, a dolphin had just swept his fluke downward with considerable force, right over the area of my back that had been hurting. I felt a powerful current of energy run down my back. As I looked at him, he swam a distance away, making room for the next dolphin who swam beside me, gazing. This dolphin then paused in the water, as if waiting for me, our eyes met, he gave me a signal that he wanted to dive down. We dove down belly to belly, he twirled around, hung upside down in the water letting me know it was my move. I made my move for the surface, twirling and undulating like a dolphin having too much fun. At this, he got quite excited, darted downwards and came up a few feet from me, circling.

Closer and closer he came. I started matching his behavior, swimming the same pattern as best I could. He got even more interested and swam his circles closer, tighter, and faster, until I had to swim in place, in a circle on my right side. This was quite a challenge with how my back was feeling just minutes before, though I trusted he knew what he was doing. The circles he was swimming got so tight and close that I had to point my feet to the bottom of the ocean and spin in place. I held eye contact with him until he swam such fast circles, that I had to pause and resume our gaze on his next orbit. Never before had I experienced a dolphin swim with such speed, while circling me like that. After a few minutes of that I had to take a breather. Rose and our friend were right there watching the whole thing. "What a work out that was," I exclaimed almost out of breath. I laughed and could barely believe the intensity of play and joining we were experiencing.

On looking back at this experience, the elusive nature of the dolphin comes to me, almost dream-like. Are they elusive or are we just a bit slow? What they shared with me that day has continued to come to me, getting clearer and clearer. I find myself saying things I have never thought of, things that barely feel like mine. I have heard for a long time that dolphins are aware of how we feel. Something they told me while they were circling me was that they feel our consciousness shift, our moods change, our minds expand, etc. They find great joy in waking up sleeping parts of ourselves by swimming patterns and when we catch on, having us swim those same patterns. They are aware of the subtle energy levels every moment. They live in that place. I now know they are "feeling with me," the accelerated frequencies running through my body, all that is opening, my altered states, as they take me through the gates of expanded consciousness. They are here for us all. It is a great joy for them to be a part of our return Home.

The day continued for well over four hours of close, ecstatic dancing and simply being with the dolphins. Their spirals became more evident as the day progressed. Something I experienced more powerfully than ever that day, was feeling of being so much a part of the pod. The dolphins responded to my every thought, instantly. I would look at a group about twenty-five feet away and send a thought/image that I wanted to be close to them. Within two to five seconds, they would all turn and swim right at me, until they were a few feet away. They would turn to position themselves and swim along side of me, each one taking turns to have eye contact with me. When they swam off another little pod within the pod would be there to share the same. If not, I would look around, decide which dolphins I wanted to be with that moment, and call them to be close with me.

I was continually amazed at their willingness and desire to be with us. It didn’t matter whether it was one, two, or a group of dolphins, whether they were five feet or fifty feet away. When I called them they came, sometimes turning 180 degrees, to come and join. For hours, we each were off with our dolphin or group of dolphins, having the time of our lives. So many more, were our experiences with the dolphins that day...

Where Is Everyone?
Rose and I observed the dolphins being in a very "to-themselves," resting mode so we floated on the surface of the ocean with intermittent diving and playing between ourselves. The dolphins would swim by, on all sides of us. After a bit Rose went her way and I went mine, both drawn by the dolphins as they interacted with us in short bursts of playfulness.
When I felt like getting out of the water I swam over to our kayak, pulled myself up and laid out in the warm, morning sun. A few minutes went by when I decided to look and see where Rose was. I looked all around the area I had just seen her in, though she was nowhere to be found. I sat up straight in the boat and looked more carefully and thoroughly, to no avail. There was no sign of anyone in the water in the entire bay that I could see I looked and looked and looked and nothing, no Rose. By this point I was feeling anxiety about the situation. I knew she was very comfortable in the water, I also remembered we both had had an experience a couple of times before, where a group of us were in the bay with dolphins, we were off by ourselves with a few dolphins and after a bit, would look up to see where our friends were, only to find that they were nowhere to be found. It was as if we had gone into a time/space warp, still in the bay though not seen by anyone else nor able see anyone else. Where we were was not a large bay. I thought to myself, "She must be having one of those parallel dimension experiences again."
Several minutes went by before I resigned to the feeling that I wasn't going to find her in the near vicinity. I paddled with great fervor after a group of kayaks that passed by us just minutes before. I saw the dolphins head that way, so maybe Rose would be with them, I thought to myself. The more I paddled, the more unpleasant I felt in my belly.
Unpleasant images went through my mind, as possibilities of what could have happened to Rose. I felt the pain of loss grip my heart, like a tight glove that didn't leave room for movement. Another part of me was preparing me to let her go, as I heard my inner voice saying that she is choosing where she wants to be.
In the midst of all of this I said a little prayer. I told myself the dolphins wouldn't allow anything to happen to her. Knowing this, or believing this, I asked them to check on her. With a rather commanding tone I requested one dolphin go see her, be with her. So, for the next few moments I saw her in my mind's eye safe, accompanied by one dolphin.
After paddling for a few minutes I realized I was not going to find her, at least not in the direction I was going. At the moment of that realization I opened myself to know what was going on. I instantly saw Rose, as if watching a movie. She was behind me several hundred yards, alone. She was afraid. I saw her in a panic. I said out loud, "What's going on?" She told me as if sitting right next to me that she had been with the dolphins on and off for awhile and when she looked up, no one was around. Hearing all of this in my mind, I stopped paddling, turned around and stood up in the kayak. Balancing with the help of the paddle in my right hand, I surveyed the area I had last seen her, as if knowing she was there. It was only seconds before I saw a body floating in the water. It was too far to know if it was her or not. I quickly sat down and paddled with the same fervor I had moments ago.
Paddling and looking, keeping my eyes on the person in the water, I anticipated a sweet reunion with Rose. When I got close enough to recognize that it was Rose in the water, great relief swept over my entire body.

Later when we shared our stories of what had happened, she told me of her adventure from great joy and peaceful playfulness, into wonder and through fear and panic. When she panicked she swallowed water. After coughing the water out, she put her head back in the ocean to continue swimming fast. A dolphin appeared right in front of her face. When she saw the dolphin she felt safe and comfortable again...

That disappearing thing has happened with us several times.
We haven't been able to explain it.

Three Dolphins Play Leaf Game with Me
The dolphins that come up to us love to play a game, we call, Leaf Tag. They swim near us, make sure we can see them, and let go of a leaf they are carrying either on their rostrum, (nose) their pectoral fin or their fluke (tail fin). Depending on the day, how they feel and what they are communicating to us, they either allow us to get the leaf or just a second before we are about to pick it up, a dolphin will swim by and get it.
This day in particular, was a day full of first time experiences. Some dear friends wanted to experience dolphins in the wild. We all went out together in kayaks. We were snorkeling and playing among ourselves, when a pod of about seventy Spinner dolphins surrounded us. Immediately a dolphin swam up to me, positioned itself and swam parallel with me. When he had my full attention, he dove down to about 8 feet and dropped the leaf he was carrying on his pectoral fin. Once he gave the signal for me to get the leaf, I dove down and retrieved it. He watched as I swam down and picked up the leaf. I sent a feeling of "Thank you" to this playful dolphin.
As soon as I retrieved that leaf, another came up to me, dove down in front of me and let go of her leaf. I dove down to pick up the leaf and noticed the dolphin watching me the whole way. Immediately after that, another dolphin came up to me, dove down, dropped the leaf he was carrying and swam a few feet away to watch me dive for the leaf. This dolphin too, allowed me to pick up the leaf. "Three in a row," I thought to myself. This was the first time three different dolphins came up and all gave me their leaves, one after the other.

After I had gotten the third leaf, I began to swim to the surface for some air. No sooner had I come to the surface when the last dolphin to drop the leaf, circled around and swam up to me, stopped about 5 inches from my face and looked at me, nose to nose. Of course my first thought was, "you want the leaf back, huh?!" I dove down with the leaf. He followed me. I came up. He followed me. We swam along, looking into each other's eyes for a bit. Then, he swam away to join the others. When I saw him swim away, I dove down and made an "eee-eee-eee" sound to get his attention. I dropped the leaf, he turned around and dove down for it, gliding by with his pec fin extended to catch the leaf. They make it look so easy!

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