He Flew Beneath Me

Here in Florida we got the tail end of the monster storm that swept across the nation that dumped every imaginable form of precipitation and spawned numerous tornados that killed and destroyed. If you have been one digging out from a mountain of snow or a pile of debris—I pray for you.

The high winds that have been blowing for two days diminished after a brief shower past. The skies remained gray and low, but not threatening, so I dropped my kayak off the dock at high tide and went out the canals to the Anclote River which runs through Tarpon Springs and out to the Gulf of Mexico. In the bay outside the canals the water turned to glass.

Bob and I were talking about dishwashers when less than three feet before the bows of our kayaks a dolphin surfaced, exhaled and disappeared beneath our boats. My mouth fell open in disbelief, if not concern with the possibility that the rather large animal might tip one of us over. I did not get a good look at the dark gray mammal and was sure the opportunity wouldn’t present itself again.

Except, it did. Not only did the magnificent animal continue to surface just beyond reach, he swam under my kayak so close I could see him looking at me. He turned on his side to get a better view of me his white belly exposed to the white belly of my kayak. I extended my hand out over the water and tried to coax him to the surface. In his watery world he seemed to be chatting with me, and I could see tiny rows of teeth in his long mouth. He continued to surface. Sometimes to my left. Then between our two kayaks. On Bob’s right. He disappeared to only to resurface either right off our bows or behind us, his whereabouts given away with his exchange of oxygen.

He was easy to identify. Three notches on his dorsal fin and several white scars behind the fin told a tale of hard life at sea. As we reached shallower waters in the river, his wake extended out like wings of an angel floating across the glassy surface. When he completely surfaced and exposed the fluke of his tail I accused him of being on break from Sea World.

I was amazed and blessed on this gray day on the Gulf-side of the Disney State. Sorry, Ra. No photos.