MY LIFE IS THE MOST AWESOME LIFE THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED!

I just got back from SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS! What?! It was probably the most amazing experience in the midst of this huge experience which is the most amazing experience of my life. The Dolphin Centre where I'm doing my research does swim tours which usually cost something like $180 but since I am a research assistant it was free! So I woke up ridiculously early this morning, came down here, suctioned myself into a wetsuit and went out on a boat.

We saw several pods which was fantastic in and of itself. I was right on the bow when a couple of them started bow riding right underneath me! We also saw a brand new baby, only about a week old. This was all just from the boat. I was actually really impressed with their system. I was a little concerned about swimming with wild dolphins, (about them, not about safety) but they way they handle it is really cool. For one thing, the boat has a special engine that makes all the noise above water, and little to no noise underwater, which is sweet. Also, every group they see they watch its behavior before people are allowed to get in. They look for signs of mating, fighting, or feeding, and don't get in if they're doing any of those things. When they do get in, it's about 100 or 150 meters from where the dolphins actually are, and then its the peoples' job to be as interesting to these naturally curious creatures as possible, in the hopes that they'll swim over and see us. You're not allowed to get in the water anywhere near a new calf, and if you touch a dolphin there's a fine of multiple thousands of dollars. There's absolutely no guarantee you will get anywhere near dolphins on these tours. I'm pretty pleased with this system!

So anyway, we got in the water near a group of big males all swimming together. The water was freezing and very murky, by the way, nothing like the Great Barrier Reef. The people on the boat recommend that you make noise, in and out of the water, duck dive, do anything to make them want to know what you are. So we started singing "You're the One That I Want" from Grease and all of a sudden we started seeing fins coming towards us. Straight towards us. Suddenly they were all around us! I could hear them clicking and whirring underwater and then there one was, about a foot away from me, casually swimming by on his side with his belly towards me. It was the most surreal experience I've ever had. I think I got a picture of just how close he got, I believe it is just a close up of dolphin belly. It wasn't really until we got on the boat that I realized what had just happened. It was so fast, too!

Once they left we got back on the boat and saw some more socializing behavior which was cool. We were running out of time but we saw a mother and older calf who looked like they might just be foraging or sort of chilling so we got in the water again. From the water we got to see some more dolphins further away surfing on the waves! There would be a big swell and the dolphin would ride right with it and jump completely out of the water. It was SO cool to see in real life, even if it was far away!

We were trying to get their attention again and I suggested we try "You're the One That I Want" again since it worked the last time. The other two people who were really singing before laughed and agreed so we sang it and sure enough, they swam right under us! They kept circling and coming back, too! I swear both of them were about a foot away from me, swimming right under me in the water. I was in such awe that time that I completely forgot about my camera.

I seriously cannot believe that just happened. I'm actually still shaking a little bit. I swam with wild dolphins in the Indian Ocean. Oh my god. Even if my project is terrible and working for Valissa is terrible and I don't get to see anything in Western Australia or make any good friends or have any time off for the rest of the month, I'm pretty sure it will all be worth it for those few minutes of being that close to something so beautiful in the wild. My life is awesome.