Diving with the Dolphins

Encounters in Inter-Being

Nikki the dolphin guided me into her undersea world in the most exhilarating way. This moment came after five days of intense introspection, inner work, romance and crisis. Breath is mysterious, and even more so in a Dolphin. They breathe consciously, not through their autonomic system, but rather “breath” by “breath”.

For one week in 1994, I swam with dolphins in Key Largo, at a research facility called “Dolphins Plus”. Harriet Rose Meiss, a trainer in a method called “Brethworks” had this idea for a workshop to promote human-dolphin encounters. When I read the description of the workshop it just felt right, and I knew I had to do take part in the experience. But at that time, I was limited financially and very frugal with my money. A wise friend counseled that I could pro-rate the cost of the workshop over the span of my lifetime and it would cost about .10 a day. Adding on the cost of swim goggles, a snorkel and flippers then maybe I’d spend 12 cents a day. Before long, I was on my way to Key West, properly equipped and wide-open for adventure.

When Nikki first approached I made the mistake of reaching out towards her, forgetting that arm movements can scare dolphins. The trainer spotted that immediately from his station on the docks as he watched my interaction. This was the fifth and last day of my 5-day adventure at “Dolphins Plus”. Up to this point, I had felt discouraged about the prospects of actually swimming with a Dolphin. They seemed to more easily gravitate towards other workshop participants, and were especially fond of a young man named “Xax Todd”. In the course of the five days, I came to learn that Xax had been diagnosed as HIV-Positive, and that his youthful, gorgeous body had begun to crack under the stress of the disease. Xax was a video and graphic artist and depicted his illness as a process much like the cracking of an oyster shell. The disease had opened him up to life, and the dolphins could feel this each time he entered their space. They became quite competitive with one another in their attempt to swim with him, and at times were even rough. On this last day, two dolphins started the commotion causing Xax to quickly leave the pool. As the dolphins began to calm down, I was able to enter into the pool. Slowly Nikki approached, but was frightened away by my sudden hand movements.

But then she came back a second time. The trainer instructed me to try to reach out for her dorsal fin, and to hold on. When this happened, she so completely brought me into her underwater world that I didn’t have time to worry about holding my breath underwater. It’s the deepest sense of peace and love I can ever remember feeling. There was this incredible connection on unconditional love, and I just went with it for as long as the ride would last. When I needed to surface for air, I motioned with my hand, and Nikki surfaced. The ride continued for maybe 10 minutes, but to me this seemed to stretch into an hour or more. Harriet Rose would later tell me that she knew I’d be talking about this experience for a long time. And she was right.

Harriet-Rose Meiss (DolphinBreth - dolphin human encounters, journies to Fernando De Noronha, Brazil)