Evening session

It seemed like there would be no dolphins today. It was another one of these extremely hot Red Sea summer days. There are no Egyptians in our compound. They all have left for "Sahel", the North coast, where the wealthy crowd has their second or third secondary home.
The water temperature is 33°C by now and it will get hotter. Who knows how hot it is in the sun.
Only by adopting a vegetative state can one survive. That´s what I do, I´m there under the umbrella drinking a beer and watching the sea and thinking about life.
The day goes by, and the sun starts to set when finally my friends arrive. Unfortunately I´m all alone now, nobody to join me on the kayak. I row out there and when I arrive I start to film their arrival.



Once under my kayak I loose my equilibrium and fall into the water. Splash, the dolphins, shocked, move 20m away.

Back on the kayak I row and catch up with them quickly. I go in again, pulling the kayak with a string. My foot gets caught, the kayak is heavy and slows me down. I decide to abandon it.

The dolphins are in great spirits tonight. They are very playful and stay around. The sound underwater is increadible. Sonar and whistling as long as the session lasts.

This is a different group from last weekend. I recognize last years dolphin with the dent in the jaw and, imagine, he recognized me. We start to swim together. I swim next to him, follow him, he swims slowly, we swim circles, he dives, I dive, then we continue for a long stretch.

There is a crazy young dolphin. He comes and goes, speeding, then zigzaging, then jumping.
From a distance I see one of the young ones sticking out his head vertically out of the water to see where I am.




There are between 20 - 30 dolphins here tonight. They are quite stretched out. The youth in front and the old guard following behind. Once my young friend has left I find myself with the huge adults. They are zen and move in slow and essential moves.

I lift my head, where the heck is the kayak. It´s still where I left it, far far away.

Time to go...