We’d tried to go dolphin watching up in Kalpitiya but couldn’t find enough co-enthusiasts to make the numbers work, but our host for dinner last night managed to hook us up with a French couple, so there we were at seven this morning, ready to help shove the boat out and climb aboard. There can never be any guarantees, but our host said the unusually calm sea boded well, and Flipper and friends turned up on cue. And it was wonderful! A highlight of our trip, no question, and the grandest of finales.
I got a bare handful of half-decent pics, out of the gazillion and nine I took, shooting effectively blind in the dazzling light, but in truth only video comes close to doing justice to this extended aquatic ballet, thrilling all around.
There must have been hundreds of them, swooping around and under and alongside our little boat, leaping out of the water, surely just for the joy of it. The grace and beauty, the litheness and energy, I certainly don’t have the words. But it was one of the most stunning displays of anything I’ve ever seen, and I’m so glad we did get to see them after all.
I’ve spent most of the day since we returned going through the vast number of pics I took, wrestling with the stupidities of iPhone editing software (poor Virle cops much of the sound and fury signifying nothing), and mostly getting nowhere fast. But we did have a nice swim off the beach, followed by a delicious lunch of Bombay mix, satsumas and lemon puff biscuits, which did much to improve my mood. And I finished Riddley Walker again. Still as stunning as when it first bowled me over upwards of 40 years ago.
