Musings on a day of dolphin watching
Ask me if the thought of waking up at 5 am on a Monday morning for my corporate job excites me and I will pretend I am hard of hearing or might just ignore you or stare at you with a blank expression or worse still, judge you for even asking me that question.
Instead, if you were the guide who was taking me on the boat to go dolphin watching in Lovina Beach in North Bali and instructing me to be ready by 5am for it; I wouldn’t miss a single word that you would be saying.
Combing the ocean wide-eyed with concentration levels upwards of 200%, I was making sure I didn’t miss any opportunity to catch a glimpse of this intelligent mammal. So much for my excitement levels, these mammals decided to be coy and not reveal too much of themselves on that fine morning. I wondered if these creatures had some kind of awareness that every morning a bunch of Homo sapiens hover above their habitat to watch them.
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(My husband decided to sit in front of the boat unaware that he ended up posing for this shot I took)
“Too windy” were the words muttered by our guide as the usual number of dolphin sightings weren’t happening. And so, with a partial contentment we headed back on a rickety boat, strong winds rocking it from side to side and no sign of life jackets.
[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_1" o:spid="_x0000_s1027" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PM7t724ZYF4/UqgTcrOS_-I/AAAAAAAAAZA/E7m0lxz2J-8/s320/WP_000498.jpg" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PM7t724ZYF4/UqgTcrOS_-I/AAAAAAAAAZA/E7m0lxz2J-8/s1600/WP_000498.jpg" style='position:absolute;left:0;text-align:left;margin-left:2.25pt; margin-top:67.8pt;width:239.75pt;height:180pt;z-index:-251656192;visibility:visible; mso-wrap-style:square;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0; mso-wrap-distance-left:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:0;mso-wrap-distance-right:9pt; mso-wrap-distance-bottom:0;mso-position-horizontal:absolute; mso-position-horizontal-relative:text;mso-position-vertical:absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative:text;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0; mso-width-relative:page;mso-height-relative:page' o:button="t" stroked="t" strokecolor="black [3213]"> <v:fill o:detectmouseclick="t"></v:fill> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image003.jpg" o:title="WP_000498"></v:imagedata> <w:wrap type="tight"></w:wrap> </v:shape><![endif][if !vml][endif][if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_5" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KwBFM2rRL-4/UqgTW4dip_I/AAAAAAAAAY4/wvbalje2lEE/s320/WP_000494.jpg" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KwBFM2rRL-4/UqgTW4dip_I/AAAAAAAAAY4/wvbalje2lEE/s1600/WP_000494.jpg" style='position:absolute;left:0;text-align:left;margin-left:260.45pt; margin-top:66.5pt;width:239.75pt;height:180pt;z-index:-251655168;visibility:visible; mso-wrap-style:square;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0; mso-wrap-distance-left:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:0;mso-wrap-distance-right:9pt; mso-wrap-distance-bottom:0;mso-position-horizontal:absolute; mso-position-horizontal-relative:text;mso-position-vertical:absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative:text;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0; mso-width-relative:page;mso-height-relative:page' o:button="t" stroked="t" strokecolor="black [3213]"> <v:fill o:detectmouseclick="t"></v:fill> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image005.jpg" o:title="WP_000494"></v:imagedata> <w:wrap type="tight"></w:wrap> </v:shape><![endif][if !vml][endif]Indeed, my excitement was not so much from the dolphin sighting as much as from getting up early, watching the fishermen go about their daily lives, the ride back to the shore in the scorching sun, getting wet by the giant ocean waves and wondering (or praying) during those moments if we would make it back to the shore.
(The beautiful sunrise deserves a visual in the article- clicked by me)