Dolphins Ahoy!!!

Yesterday was the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally found them!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right- I found wild Spinner dolphins and SWAM with them!!!! Talk about fulfilling a bucket list item!

OK OK, I will tell you how it happened in detail. I awoke that morning with a determination to snorkel; we hadn't gone snorkeling so far, and our trip was (and currently is) nearly halfway done already. Since no one else was really jumping on making concrete plans for the day, I went ahead and took the lead. I wanted to find something secluded for two reasons: #1- More Fish, and #2- More Shells for collection. As I searched for blogs  and articles, I came across a blog written by what looked to be a native Hawaiian. Thinking that they should have something interesting to say, I read on.

I came across a little beach called, "Kahe." Also known as "Electric Beach" due to it's placement directly across from the electric plant, it is one of the many hidden treasures on the island. Because it's small and hard to see from the freeway, very few people know about it (aside from the locals that is). It mentioned how, although a very strange location, this was a great place for many different fish and turtles because of a large pipe underneath the water that had slowly become overgrown with marine plants and coral. As I read more, it explained that, not only was this a great place for an assortment of fish, but Spinner dolphins had recently taken a liking to the spot. 

I was thrilled! It sounded like this would be a nice place to meet up with some marine animals. The fact that dolphins were seen there was cool, but I figured that, considering the time that we were going (2:30 PM), we had NO chance of seeing them (they say that dolphins typically come in for feeding in the morning and swim back out to deeper waters during the afternoon to get some shut-eye). I kept that in mind so that, on one of the mornings that I was up at 5:00 (most mornings over here), I could walk over and watch them jump.

We finally got there (after much painful waiting and attempted sabotaging of my glorious day's plan), and the water was ROUGH. It was a bit of a windy day to begin with, but this beach was seriously one of the scariest looking I had seen in my 21 years. The blog had said that this was for advanced swimmers... and he wasn't kidding. I watched as the massive waves sucked the beach in and smashed down again over and over and had to think twice about getting in. As I started to get out of the car, I noticed something jump from the corner of my eye. I spun around to see two dolphins playfully leaping into the air. I almost fell over.

They were quite far away from the beach, but at this point, my hopes and dreams were on the line, and I forgot how chaotic the water was. I rushed to the beach, fins and snorkel gear in hand, and rushed to jump in. As I was readying myself for the suicidal swim to meet my finned friends, my mother's voice came from behind me telling me that I wasn't allowed to go out there until my dad or my aunt were ready to go.

I was panicking at this point- my aunt takes FOREVER to get going on things, and my dad was back there talking to people who were trying to talk my parents out of even letting us swim this channel (Locals... we had people earlier that day tell us that there was "no such thing" or that it was "a boring swim with little to offer." Yah... sometimes the locals will tell you those things about the hidden beaches to keep tourists from going to them. My mom believed them, but I knew better, so we ended up going anyway. Thank you Krissy! ) I was afraid that, by the time my family actually got down to the sandy entrance to the water, the dolphins would be gone. I announced that I was going anyway and that I'd waited long enough. 

Yah... that didn't sit well with my mom... She still sat there and said, "Don't even think about getting in, Krissy." Heck... 21 years old and I STILL feel guilty going against my mom's will... no matter how petty the request...

So I sat... and sat... and sat... finally, it was too much to bear. I readied myself. My dad started down from the rocks above and I screamed for him to hurry up so I could go. Confused, he looked at me and asked, "Why didn't you just go?" SERIOUSLY??? Heck! Dad would have been fine with me getting out there! I should have just asked him... Anyway, with the consent of a parent, I hopped into the rough water and started out.

I could see why they advise inexperienced swimmers to stay away from this spot- it was treacherous. The current was strong- it sucked at me and would have probably drowned someone who hadn't become familiar with water (I was a trophy-winning swimming in my younger years). But I was determined to get out there. It was a long, long way out there, and as soon as I realized that I was in deep, open water, visions of Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" began buzzing through my head. Stay calm, Kris... That's what I had to keep telling myself over and over. 

In the mean time, I had lost site of the dolphins, and I was a LONG ways out. I was worried. Perhaps they had gone back out. What made me more nervous was yet another fact that I had learned years ago on the Discovery Channel: When Dolphins sense a threat, the entire pod will hurry off to new waters. What could pose such a threat? Giant Hammerhead Sharks, Galapagos Sharks, and even Tiger Sharks, all frequent visitors to this depth of water. 

Uh oh.

Despite my fear, I kept going. They had to be around here somewhere! Then I heard it- a high-pitched whistle. It was faint, but I knew exactly what it was. I followed that sound, and it started to get louder and louder until finally I saw the outline of not two, but 30-40 dolphins. 

YAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

 I wish I could have actually gotten a picture of those guys,
but this is what spinner dolphins look like.

It was absolutely the most mystical, magical scene I have ever encountered. I hadn't expected to see so many of them!!! Not only were there full-grown dolphins, but a bunch of babies as well. That explains why they wouldn't let me touch them. However, they were very curious about me and allowed me to swim with their pod for nearly an hour. At one point, I turned to see one right next to me. He looked at me for a moment than swam away to maintain his distance.

It was absolutely amazing. I went to try and find my family so that they too could witness this awesome scene. However, my dad and brothers had seen too much of Shark Week on TV and were scared of going out that far to see them. My dad also couldn't hear the dolphin call- it was too high pitched for his ears I guess. Anyway, without hearing that dolphin call to excite him into going, he had very little motivation to follow me and coaxed me to come back to the beach with everyone (it was probably a good idea- the dolphins were on their way back to deep water, and the sun's lowering position signaled the coming reign of the sharks for the evening- we likely would have run into a not-so-friendly neighbor).

Again, not the actual turtle we saw.
But he looked like this!

After getting back, we swam around the shallow waters with a friendly sea turtle and boogie-boarded on the huge, 6-foot waves. Tyler, Trevor, Brandon, and my dad played a game where Ty would call out in a Scottish accent, "Stand your ground" and they would all see who could stay standing when the wave whacked them. Talk about funny to watch!

At the end of the day, we all had sand diapers from being strewn across the beach by the massive waves, and I barfed out my body weight from gulping a mouthful of seawater. It was a fun day! I had fulfilled my lifelong dream of swimming with wild dolphins, and we all acquired bruises and other battle scars from our epic day of beaching (that sounds terrible, but I'm being serious. It was a fun day, and we have all sorts of marks to prove that we gave it our all :) ).

I guess we shall see what today holds! It should be fun!!!!