It’s 6am. The equatorial sun had already broken dawn and the sounds of Cancun's Magnificent Frigatebird can be heard screeching and wailing its morning call within the grounds of our apartment. This was the day I had waited nearly 40 years for.
Six months ago my wonderful wife threw a surprise birthday party. She had been teasing me for weeks beforehand saying she was going to give something life changing and kept me guessing as to what it was. However, given that my crystal ball was foggy and I failed my GCSE clairvoyance I was left completely in the dark and became clueless to what it may have been. On the night of the party her gift to me was to provide our family with a once in a lifetime holiday to Mexico with the ultimate aim to achieve my lifetimes ambition of swimming with Dolphins. Members of family and friends all played their part by contributing towards the cost giving me the best Birthday present I could ever wish for. Now that day had come and as I lay awake in our bed wondering what the next few hours would bring, I couldn't wait.
The sun beat down in a sweltering 32 degrees with a humidity level that was so saturated you were no wetter when swimming in the sea. We arrived at +Delphinus Swim with Dolphins dolphin centre and once the paperwork formalities had been concluded were taken to get ourselves changed. After a brief introduction on what you can and cannot do, spoken in both Spanish and English we were led to the main pool. This was it! The tension and excitement building as we saw around six dolphins casually swimming in and around occasionally coming up for air then disappearing back down again giving us just tantalising glimpses of what was to come.
Like tourist lemmings kitted out with buoyancy aids we followed the trainer to the far end of the pool and followed his instructions jumping into the nice cool water. A sharp contrast to the ambient heat on the outside, the water was bliss before we had even started. What then followed was a series of tricks performed by these beautiful mammals as they jumped high over our heads, raced round us in circles, gave us a water fight and even pushed us by our feet at speed along the whole length of the near Olympic sized pool. The whole thing was slick, well organised and very professionally done and the Dolphins did not appear to be badly treated in any way. For me however the best part was the end, a relaxing solitary five minutes just swimming gently in and amongst these wonderful beasts. As they brush alongside you in a graceful manner, like an old friend who has known you for years. It was an experience I will never forget. Save the tricks for those who want to see it, today I swam with dolphins and they swam along with me.
Wingwalker.
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