Wild Encounter
On our 2018 trip to the Big Island we hiked ancient lava fields, discovered far off beaches, and had a few beers in between. We opted to stay in Airbnbs rather than in a hotel, and the first of our three Airbnbs was in Captain Cook. It was a jungle bungalow amongst a bunch of coffee farms. I am a coffee fiend so staying in an area known as The Coffee Belt with views of the ocean was paradise in itself. Our host was very accommodating and gave us lots of advice on where to go check out on the Southwestern side of the island. One of the spots she told us to check out was a beautiful reef with a major drop off about 20 minutes from where we were. This spot also has a family of hammerhead sharks lived in the bay there. *Okay I was not too keen about possibly seeing one of those guys but we figured it was rare to encounter one of them.
So our first full day in the area we decided to go and check out the reef our host recommended. Off the bat it seemed like most areas I have snorkeled, shallow reef hugging the coastline, and a good amount of people swimming around. It wasn’t until we got underwater we could understand what our Airbnb host was talking about. The reef was bountiful with beautifully colored fish, zooming around us and peeking from behind clumps of coral.
When we got to the reef drop off, I was reluctant to swim out past it. Thinking back on it, it reminded me of the scene from Finding Nemo, when they see the open ocean for the first time. It was a vast dark blue emptiness, that looked as though it went on forever. There was no distinctive feautures that could be seen past the reef, not the floor or any coral, just blue.
Matt gladly swam around in the blue void, meanwhile I stayed next to the safety of the reef. Dark water is something that I found scares me a bit, even when I would go surfing nearly every other day my freshman year of college I had to keep my eyes on the horizon and not look down. Thankfully I have a husband that pushes me, because in the moments that he was swimming out in the open water he spotted a pod of dolphins and motioned for me to swim out to him. With coercion, and promising to hold my hand, I swam with him into the exposed waters to see if we would spot them again.
With our heads under the water you could hear the dolphins talking to one another before you spotted them. Their clicks sounded like morse code, and as they got louder we soon spotted their silhouettes starting to move towards us. In moments we were surrounded by a a large pod of dolphins, that swam right up to us.
Eventually I let go of Matt’s hand so I could get the GoPro turned on. It was such a crazy moment that I knew people back at home would not believe. At one point I couldn’t even see Matt between all the dolphins swimming around and between us. We watched as they played and spun around one another. I really didn’t grasp just how deep of water we were in until they began to dive down. They eventually disappeared below our feet into the depths of the bay, they only sign of them were their clicks, and when you could see the white of their bellies if the spun around.
We stayed in the bay for maybe half an hour watching them play on the surface then spinning back down to the colder water below. We didn’t want to draw much attention to the dolphins so we didn’t say much as we swam back to the reef. It wasn’t until we were back in our rental car that we talked excitedly about what we just got to experience. I hurriedly connected the GoPro to my phone to review the footage, and we were both so stoked to see we got some videos to show people back at home.
To date that was one of the raddest experiences we got to share as a couple, and it all happened because Mother Nature let it. I know there are several companies that will take you out to swim with wild dolphins, and that there are many opinions on this, but there is nothing like experiencing them on their time and at complete random.
I am beyond thankful that Matt was patient with me, understood my fear, and ultimately got me to swim beyond the reef to have that Wild Encounter. These are the moments that we remember late into life, and they make risks worth taking.
Ashlyn
Instagram: @ashrugh
