It is an experience I will treasure for the rest of my life!
Earlier this month I travelled to Malongane in
Sharing some Ancestral and Family Constellation concepts with the small but conscientious group in the energy field of the dolphins was a hugely expanding experience, but the real highlight for me occurred on the second morning.
Our boat outing on day one hadn't yielded any successful sightings of dolphins, but the clear and calm waters of day two boded well for us. Our group had done a Buddhist walking meditation as well as a heart-opening meditation prior to the launch, and we all felt confident that “today was the day”.
And indeed it was! It didn't take long for us to find a pod of about sixty bottlenose dolphins moving slowly up the coast, and we slipped gently into the water to join them. One reads about these beautiful mammals and their special healing powers, but to experience them up close and in their natural environment is something quite remarkable. Gazing into their beautiful and loving eyes as they glided parallel to me was quite hypnotic and intoxicating. I felt particularly blessed as two dolphins leapt with effortless choreography directly over me, and then a third brushed ever-so-lightly against my left side.
Then a mother with her five-month-old calf who had just slipped silently past me, turned and swam directly towards me. When they were about two meters ahead of me it felt like the baby dolphin “zapped” me in some way, because I felt a massive wave of what I can only describe as “unconditional love” hit my heart. It literally took my breath away as I immediately choked up and took in a huge gulp of sea water.
I had to surface briefly to get my breath and then immediately looked down again because I didn’t want to miss a second of this unbelievable encounter. The mother and calf had started diving below me but the baby looked back towards me as if to say, "Are you alright?”
And that was it – the tears just flowed.
What made this meeting so profoundly healing was that we had watched a movie called “The Cove” the night before. The film, which won this year’s Oscar in the Best Documentary Feature category exposes the annual slaughter of 23,000 dolphins and porpoises in the coastal town of
At first appearance the town seems to be devoted to the wonders and mysteries of these sleek and playful mammals that swim off its coast. But in a remote cove, surrounded by barbed wire and "Keep Out" signs, lies a very different and dark reality. It is here, under cover of night, that the fishermen of Taiji, driven by a multi-billion dollar dolphin entertainment industry and an underhanded market for dolphin meat, engage in their secret massacres. They will go to great lengths to halt anyone from witnessing these slaughters, or of discovering how their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is sold as “whale meat” in
“The Cove” has been making waves since it premiered last year. Critical praise and audience awards worldwide have focused international attention on Taiji and the annual dolphin drives off the coast of
The driving force behind this documentary was Ric O'Barry who, in the 1960’s captured and trained dolphins for use in the "Flipper" television series. O’Barry eventually realized how much these sensitive, intelligent and self-aware creatures suffered when subjected to human captivity and became a warrior for their freedom. He joined forces with filmmaker Louis Psihoyos and the Ocean Preservation Society in order to expose what has been going on unchecked in Taiji. With the local Police Chief keeping constant surveillance and strong-armed fishermen obstructing them at every turn, Ric recruits an “Oceans Eleven-style” team of underwater sound and camera experts, special effects artists, marine explorers, adrenaline junkies and world-class free divers. Their mission: to carry out an undercover operation and photograph the off-limits cove, while playing a cloak-and-dagger game with those who would like to have them thrown in jail. The result is a provocative mix of investigative journalism, eco-adventure and arresting imagery that adds up to an urgent plea for hope, which has grabbed the attention of the world.
Please make sure you get to see it!
