Last Day With the Dolphins: Some Ruminations

A rumination: The Florida Keys are beautiful--wonderful blue/aqua water, a sense of wilderness and hot, romantic, tropical, rotting history. But too, too many people. Lots of skittish folks who look strung out and down and out. And that negative energy is mixed up in a strange way with the happy clutter of tourists. I was here before, for two years, working as news reporter. That was 28 years ago and had the same observations. Nothing has changed. Where do all the bleeding, desperate people come from? I wish them well as they seek to sort things out, but experience tells me not to be optimistic. I covered the Key West police blotter too often for optimism.

I took a final, lone walk around the DRC tonight. It was sunset and it suddenly felt very fine being alone. My charges seemed at ease, resting after a day entertaining tourists. They do seem happy despite animal rights activists views to the contrary. Floating heads up in the dark water, they watched me with one eye and then the other. They squeaked and chortled. One played with a hula hoop, dragging it around with him--or her.

Are dolphins hyper intelligent as the common wisdom tells us? After all, this place is the home of the original Flipper, the super dolphin (he/she is buried here). They're stunning creatures, powerful and lithe, and much better at being dolphins then we smart humans. But no, I suspect the researchers are right--on the perhaps unfair human scale of problem solving/linguistic abilities, they come in somewhere between a dog and a chimpanzee. One thing, though, I feel is true: They have a special, positive energy I haven't sensed in any other animal, and they send it out to the humans around them. This place has great karma.

Tomorrow I've got to get to the airport in Key West (now there's a town) by 3:00 PM for my 5:00 PM flight to Norfolk. I'll get back home to the Eastern Shore by Midnight, I would think. It's been great being here and though it might have been better if I'd had some company, I've discovered that being alone is an adventure in itself.

Dating Dolphins: What is Acceptable Behavior?

What started out as a water fight (she was just flirting, I guess), ended up with a joyride and a kiss.

I came down to the Florida Keys to help out my brother and his companion who live/work at the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key. They had to leave town for a couple of weeks and they needed someone to take over as "caretaker" while they were gone. My duties are minimal: be here at night in case something happens; just sort of keep an eye on things after the staff has gone for the day. That being the case, my plan was to write and read--and I have been doing just that (I'm 144 pages into the next novel, really). But when one gets invited to socialize (a closely supervised date, rest assured) with a couple of pretty lady dolphins, who would say no?

I must have charming water-fighting skills because I was invited to go for a ride. I don't know how it was for them, but it felt finny to me.

After a hot afternoon with the girls, we came to that always-awkward moment: do you try to kiss her goodbye? And which one do you kiss? I think I chose the prettiest one although I couldn't tell them apart. A small peck on the cheek could be the start of something big (Notice her eyes are closed--always a good sign that things went well. In fact, she seems to be a state of ecstacy. Really! Just look at her. She doesn't know I'm 62 and take blood pressure medication).

I'll be here until Tuesday the 12th when I fly back to home and hearth and waiting/working wife. Then it will be time to finally drive up to Long Island to get our new sailboat in the water and start the long sail home to the Chesapeake. And the next novel, Book II in The Eye of the Stallion trilogy (The Mirrors of Castaway Time) should come out this summer. As far as my new friends are concerned, I'm not taking the relationship too seriously. Today I saw them cavorting with other men. Have they no shame?