Day 8: Dolphin swim!

We basically came to the big island of Hawai'i just to swim with dolphins. When we began to research it, we saw a lot of opportunities to swim with captive dolphins. Although I'm sure you get physically much closer to them that way, we wanted to swim with wild dolphins. If you think about it, being locked up is the worst punishment we can think of for humans, and the captive dolphins haven't even done anything wrong. What's more, captive dolphins only live about half as long as wild ones.

To our delight, we found a company called Sunlight on Water that took us out on a boat to where the wild dolphins were hanging out, then let us jump into the water with them. At times I was within a foot or two of dolphins! The trip turned out to be everything I had hoped it would. The sounds that the dolphins were making under water were so ethereal, and they move so gracefully. We swam with the dolphins several times, and I will never forget the experience. I see dolphins a lot while walking on the pier back home in Huntington Beach, and swimming with them was a dream come true.

The crew were all very knowledgeable, and clearly were interested in making sure that we had a good time. There was a videographer there, so we ordered a copy of the video. She was really good at staying with the dolphins as they moved, and at one point she took my hand and helped me to get right in the middle of them. We even saw some dolphins mating underwater, and Bill saw a baby nursing. Wow! After several sessions in the water with the dolphins, we all got back into the boat and prepared to return to the dock. As we started back, a huge pod of dolphins was playing and showing off near our boat. They were jumping out of the water and spinning in the air (I guess that's why they call them spinner dolphins.)

After the dolphin trip was over, we went back to the Sheraton and played in the pool, going down the huge waterslide several times. We took a much needed nap, and eventually went out to dinner at a place called "O's Bistro", which was recommended by both the videographer from this morning, and our guide book. The food was phenomenal, and the ambiance of the little restaurant was cozy and warm.

As usual, the view from our balcony is beautiful: