Respite

I guess I kinda wrecked the surprise, having already talked about Eliot.

Eliot Goldstone, whom I traveled with in Nicaragua, was in Brazil. When I arrived in Rio he was traveling with a mate, Jeremy Dukes, in the beautiful North East, enjoying the beaches and the b**ches.

My arrival cut their fun short, I think. They flew down south to Rio and we spent a couple of days piss-farting about.

Jeremy flew to Miami and Eliot and I traveled to Ilha Grande, a big island a few hours south of Rio. I had been in cities for a while, Mexico City then Santiago then Rio. I needed a respite from towers fumes and traffic lights. I needed boats and beaches, trees and a tan.

We had planed on staying on the island for a few days. Loosely.

We hiked to beaches. We took boats to beaches. We went to bed early and repeated. We got chased into shore by a small shark. We read, swam and chatted about the kind of stuff that you chat about whilst on a beach. Eliot had been doing this in the North East of Brazil for the last few weeks, but It did not take much arm twisting to persuade him to stay for “one more night.” I just sang a little Phil Collins Was it Genesis? I dunno. Not worth the Google. Our few days turned to eight.

We went snorkeling on an organized tour. It was lovely being on a boat all day and swimming, but the snorkeling itself was beyond crap. However, we did get a chance to do some impromptu freedive practice which would come in handy.

The following day we wandered around town, looking for an alternative to the overcrowded tourist. We went into a few SCUBA shops. We had no intention of paying to SCUBA dive when there is not really much to see under there. We wanted to hitch a ride on one of the dive boats out to the south side of the island where the water is clear and less frequented. The second dive shop we asked offered us a day on their boat, with four SCUBA divers, for less than a sixth of the price of SCUBA.

Eliot and along with four single syllable Americans, Brad, Frank, Doug and Rob (I had to grit my teeth to control my laughs), took a small wooden dive boat out to a small island off the South coast of Ilha Grande. After a few freedives looking at rays, urchins, eels, sea snakes and introduced coral from Australia we saw a pod of 12 dolphins or more.

After some observation we noticed that they were doing loops in the bay rounding up sardines for lunch. They drew circles around the silver school, working together to ensure a full feed.

I was careful not to be too splashy, in the main I swam underwater - dolphin kick with fins. Somehow I felt that maybe his would be a better way to get close to them. I arrived to find I was in the middle of their loops, in the eye of the storm. As the encircled me I dove to about 8 or 10 meters to view them at depth. As I was about to ascend a young dolphin appeared out of the dark below, white belly gleaming.

She (A girl dolphin, I can only assume.) was swimming almost straight up toward the surface a few meters in front of me. This mammal with lungs and a heart and of comparable size to us somehow, sometimes, display subtle nuances of expression.

There was a pause in her movement as tail missed a kick. I cannot be sure, maybe my brain was playing tricks due to O2 deprivation, but I saw it. Just as she paused, she looked at me and tilted her hear a little to the left. The dolphin from the depths saw me. She saw me see her. We made eye contact for a brief moment that, as the cliché goes, felt like minutes.

We swam with the pod for hours, getting back in the boat for a rest every now and then. Eliot and I were lucky to be able to view the dolphins from a depth, armed with some basic freedive skills. With only a mask a fins we had freedom of movement. Even Brad, Frank, Doug and Rob removed their bulky tanks and BCDs to join us.

What did this day make me feel?

It made me feel connected. I felt connected to the sea. I felt connected to life. This was the respite from cities I had sought. The circles they drew in the water left me spinning for days, even now I dream about this happening again.

Since then I have bored dozens with the above story. I tell the story with grand hand gestures and wide eyes, like a child. Of course, as you read, the count increases.

As always, I value my time spent with Eliot. Spending time with him gave me a chance hook my experiences – talk with a friend who is a fellow lone traveler is special. We seem to meet in salty environments. We must enjoy the ocean as much as each other. We must share the same love of the shimmer of the sunset on the blue at the end of the day. We must share the same love of a salty back at the end of the day. Again, as the cliché goes, “At the end of the day” it is the ocean that makes us happy.

I was going to tell you about some bad stuff that happened on our way back to Rio – like our bus hitting a pedestrian. Now is not the time. Now is happy time.

From here, I am off to the interior. The mining district, the Capital, the Amazon. Until then, play nice.

Note to self: Buy underwater camera.