Dolphins and Angels

Intro by Anne Beasley

Marian Benjamin Hunter lives in Jacksonville Beach, Florida and has been surfing for five years. She began surfing after inheriting step-sons who were 10 & 11 yrs. old. I wanted to relate to them (besides yelling at them to clean their messes). None of us had a clue about surfing and for the 1st time in my adult life, I wasn't committed to a regular job. Surfing was just what I needed for us to all be humbled, laugh and help each other together. 

Marian's stepsons didn't get the surf bug but she did! I'm so grateful for the water time I had with those boys. Even though I got hooked and they didn't, it gave us some great times together. It provided some scarey, iffy, exhilarating, gleeful togethernesses.  Ben, Adam and I bonded then and supported each other. Surfing's GREAT therapy.

Marian also got involved in a Florida surf group,Sisters of the Sea. I met some of the Sisters at the East Coast Wahine Championships and they are truly high spirited unique individuals. Every surfer girl in Florida should become a part of this group. And I hope every beach town up and down the coast can have as successful a group of surfing women as Sisters of The Sea. Marian says it's one of the greatest things shes' ever been involved with. The consequences of participating in this group have been nurturing beyond all expectations I had. It's ranged from much needed teen and college age emotional support, to family-to-lean-on during divorce and death. Girl surfing buds are soul replenishing. We laugh alot and can talk about ANYthing. The cumulative knowledge is advantageous too. We can make surf checks along a ten mile stretch of beach, decide where the best spot is and alert our club members by phone tree. We just about always have someone to paddle out with. That's a Very Good Thing.

I was lying face down on my Hobie 9'2", shaking, quaking with involuntary violent shivers. I was cold and starving. It was mid September, and the sun gave way to thick clouds, howling wind, and horizontal rain that stung my cheeks. I was way outside, test riding the "Gentle Giants" that came in sloping sets, from the hurricane churning farther out in the Atlantic.

Three hours before I was riding perfect glass. Inside sections that pitched and heaved and dumped heavy into shallow water, tempted me to paddle farther out. The drops kept getting bigger, faster. I was gaining more speed down the walls, cranking it around and back up, flying across the face, kicking out before getting caught inside. I was focused only on my surfing, testing my skills, challenging myself on the incoming tide.

I didn't realize how far out I was until the storm came. I realized my body was exhausted. I squinted, looking for other surfers, they were all so far away. I was cold and scared and when the shakes came I laid down and thought, "I'll close my eyes for just a little while. I'll warm up a bit and then try to catch one in."

I'm not sure how long I had laid there, slipping in an out of some weird sleep. The splashing noise is what brought me to open my eyes. I was looking right into the eyes of a dolphin. I was alarmed, but still didn't budge. The pink skinned dolphin swam away and came back to splash me some more. She made me think of 'Lassie', like I better follow her, she's trying to tell me something.

I began to paddle. The dolphin literally would swim ahead toward shore and then turn back, as if waiting for me. I stroked hard to keep up with her. My focus was the dolphin, she was beautiful and so clearly communicating with me. She would look me in the eye, the sprint ahead as if to say, "Hurry Up!"

A wave began to push me forward. I was into a set and suddenly my focused switched, this was my chance to go in. It was well overhead and I knew if I didn't make it the whitewater would be too much for my tired body. I stood up focusing on the line when I saw her. The dolphin was just ahead of me, sliding down the face of the wave. It was like slow motion, she was riding high and low, carving like a true surfer. Quickly she shot out the back, hung some air time and was gone.

I looked to the shore for the first time. She had led me through the inside sections! I laid down on my board riding thick whitewater until my skeg was in the sand.

It was later, after a long hot shower, some soup and cocoa that I realized my experience was not a dream. It was real. My pink skinned dolphin friend was an angel to me that day.

-Marian Harper-