Day 26: Fish Out of Water

You know the saying "Where's the photo...it never happened" or "the proof is in the pudding"?....since the invent of social media and smart phones it seems that every occasion needs to be supported by a visual picture of the event. My life prior to social media and especially the iPhone was recorded in my own journals and not much attention was paid to taking that photo that proved the event happened. In fact Dean treated taking photos as something really not important especially since he couldn't see them and enjoy the memory visually. Our camera was often left in the bottom drawer when we went out and as a result so many occasions where I would love to have a camera to take that happy snap, we just didn't have one around.

One such occasion was when we where sitting on the beach in Coffs Harbour. Deano the risk taker loves to go swimming way beyond the waves. He swims so far out beyond where he can hear me calling him...yes he swims often getting himself swept beyond the flags many a time. With me standing on shore holding the hands of three little girls jumping waves. Sometimes sheer panic would strike me thinking that he might get in a rip and never return to shore, but alas he is still here and still very much alive so I should really learn to stress less. 

This one particular time however my blind man was body surfing in the waves when I spotted a dark image riding the wave right beside him. My alarm bells started to go off all over my body as the worst thought entered my mind. As if I was Martin Brody from the movie Jaws seeing this enormous creature of the deep that was about to take a chunk out of the side of my husband, I started to yell and waving my arms like a woman on fire, having some sort of standing up seizure trying to capture Deano's attention. Of course he was in his own world enjoying the waves, too far out to hear my voice carry beyond the crashing sounds of the ocean beating up on the shore. Then I see another dark giant fish beside him on the opposite side this time. Checking he was still alive I stepped a little closer into the water and with that all of a sudden I see a dolphin leap right out of the waves. My panic turned to excitement. People pay a lot of money for this experience and here is Dean not even realising he is literally swimming with Dolphins in the wild blissfully unaware. No picture that I could have taken would have made a difference because to try and show him wouldn't have much impact because he couldn't see the proof on the paper anyway!

This year we were blessed to experience hand feeding wild dolphins at Tangalooma Island resort. Deano was told by the dolphin handler that this will be a special experience for him and for her because dolphins have instincts that are unexplainable. They seek out the injured, nurture the lame and pay attention to those who have special needs. As the people were each given a fish and slowly entered the water not just one dolphin came towards my husband but 5 dolphins made their way to him. Standing in amazement I watched as the dolphins took their turn swimming by him and touching their firm grey bodies on his legs to let this man know they were near. As he placed his hand with the fish in it under the water the dolphins took the fish and lingered so they could allow his hands to touch their snout. It really was a special experience and this time Dean was totally aware of what was happening. What a privilege it was for me to witness for a second time Deano having an encounter with these gentle creatures from the wild this time I did take a few pictures and our friends were there to see it happen. Very blessed indeed. 
Tangalooma wild Dolphin Feeding

Dolphin Feeding at Tangalooma with our mates from Viridian Energy Australia