“I swam with dolphins and my life will never be the same.” That was the refrain a few days before my family went to Sea World’s Discovery Cove. While my wife and I were packing, she told me whenever a coworker asked where we were going she always replied, “Next time ya’ll see me, my life will be completely different. I’m going to swim with dolphins!”
We both laughed. It became something of a running gag. There was something so ridiculous about it. It conjured images of Disney movies where a close encounter with some wild animal changes people’s lives. It was funny to think that hanging onto a highly intelligent marine mammal as it drags you through the water could be a magical, life-changing event.
Killer whales are also highly intelligent marine mammals. Getting dragged through the water by one of those is probably a life-ending event. My sense of humor being somewhere between goofy and the gallows, that was the next thought to pop into my head.
Thinking more seriously, I recalled orcas and dolphins were in fact cousins—and they don’t keep orcas at Sea World any more. What made dolphins so different? Dolphins had evolved to live and thrive in the open ocean. The ones we were going to see are confined to a very limited, very controlled environment.
In the wild, these things headbutt sharks to death for fun. What if one of the seemingly tame cetaceans went rogue? There are plenty of articles and videos online if you want to go down that particular rabbit hole, which I didn’t. This was meant to be fun. My oldest daughter had just finished rereading Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins and this was both my girls’ reward trip for Girl Scout cookie season. They had been lobbying for a dolphin encounter ever since seeing one while visiting Sea World with the troop two years earlier.
Besides, dolphins always looked so happy. They practically have smiles plastered to their faces. They wouldn’t hurt a kid, right? Me, sure, lots of people have wanted to hurt me over the years, but who would hurt a kid? Images of the Joker, Freddy Kruger and a hundred other grinning maniacs from TV and movies filtered up from my subconscious. Part of me had never trusted anyone who smiled too much. Maybe that list needed to include dolphins?
In the end, all this dad knew was his kids wanted to swim with dolphins and a lot of hours had been spent selling cookies to make it happen. Even with a special group rate, this dolphin trip was taking a big shark bite of the family finances, and the nonrefundable deposit on the hotel room had already been paid.
Like a sleepwalker in a cartoon, I was walking off the edge of the skyscraper under construction with only blind faith and dumb luck to keep me from falling. No matter what, we were going to Florida to swim with dolphins, homicidal or not.
When the time came, the only person who wouldn’t get near the grinning, slippery gray thing was my son Liam. He wasn’t afraid, you understand— the water was too cold. No amount of coaxing, scolding, or telling him he would get used to the water would get him near the dolphin.
He played in the sand of the artificial lagoon and I stood beside him, waiting for my turn with the sleek, streamlined creature. When called, I waded out and asked the trainer if the poor dolphin would be able to carry me. I am not a little guy.
“Sir,” she replied patiently, “This dolphin is about 500 to 600 pounds. She’ll pull you right through the water.” The trainer did not lie. It was weird to feel the effortless strength of this animal towing me along as I clung to its side.
I felt like Aquaman. For a few fleeting seconds, I was king of the sea. I swam with a dolphin! My life would be completely different now—but if you need to find me, I’ll still be at work.
I think that dolphin picked my pocket while I was swimming with it.
