She Cavorts With Dolphins...

It�s August 6, 1998. I am currently in Paihia which is part of the Bay of Islands which is in the Northland territory of New Zealand.

Well, it's already my birthday here, even though it's still the 6th on your side of the world, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! In order to bring in my 29th year on a good note, I treated myself to an amazing adventure - I swam with wild dolphins in the Bay of Islands. Although it is winter, this area stays relatively warm, �relative� being the key word here. To me, it's still pretty dad-gum cold. I had to buy extra long underwear and everything.

Anyway, this morning I went out on a trip designed to see and possibly swim with dolphins. The operators give us the spiel -- dolphins are wild, they are not fed, there is no guarantee they will have any interest in us at all or that we will even find any, but...the chances are pretty good because there are a lot of them out here.

O.K. We're off. We sight a pod within an hour of departure. They are feeding so we can only watch as they rise up and dive back below, jump occasionally and play toss with some unlucky fish. It was so beautiful to see them in the wild. After an hour or so, the guide deemed that it was now O.K. to jump in and swim with them as they were no longer feeding. Let me just tell you what an amazing experience this was! Let me also just tell you how incredibly COLD it was! Wet suits helped and the pure rush of adrenaline couldn't have hurt, but the water was registering at around 50 degrees or so. Brrrrr! Anyway, you would hear the dolphins before you could see them - a high pitched whistle sound - and then suddenly they were right next to you! Maybe 3 feet away! They would swim in circles around you and dive out of the water next to you and roll over and look at you curiously. They are the most beautiful things I've ever seen and it was truly an awesome gift to have been in the water with them. I will never forget it!

Kodie K. is on a year's sabbatical tasting the wonders of the world. This exuberant journey woman hails from San Antonio, Texas where she is a secondary school teacher and a singer in a band. She booked her dolphin adventure with Dolphin Discoveries (cost approx. $70.00) Bravo, Kodie!