Re: On the Beach
I had the great good luck to swim with the dolphins in the Florida Keys, at the Dolphin Research Center. It's been a while since I did that, but it was an amazing adventure that will stay with me forever. To be up close, and touch these incredible beings was so much fun.
Like visavis said, they come up to you and kiss you. Its amazing to touch their skin and see how it feels almost exactly like a divers wet suit. The trainers at this center also allow you to hold onto their back fins and pull you around, and it's unreal how strong they are and how easily they can just tug you along. They also, from what I perceived, act like small children in way, that are so shy and playful, and of course filled with joy. I'm sure everyone already knows this but to actually see it and have them play with you individually makes it really something.
In another area of this center, the group I was with was allowed to sit on a dock and put your hands in the water to let the dolphins swim by and touch you or just play with you. As it turns out, the older dolphins would be very delicate as they swam by, but there was one younger dolpin with it's mother that seemed so curious and wanted to play. I was amazed at how it loved to be touched and stroked too, as it swam by, and would come closer and closer as it sensed how much you wished to play with it.
To see those big eyes up close looking at you and then to play with them is really something everyone should experience at least once.