Chapter 39: Day Three at Sea
Chapter 39: Dolphin Intelligence
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Dolphins learn. They pass knowledge on to their progeny. They recognize challenges and an ability to think abstractly. In contact with humans, they mimic behaviors and are very quick learners demonstrating empathy, grief, joy, problem-solving, teaching skills and even self-awareness.
Aboard Kiki I, this is true of me against all input from my fellow adventurers (but not the crew). I have learned. I recognize the challenge I have accepted here. I, on the other hand, have decided not to mimic the behaviors of my fellows no matter the intensity of their urgings otherwise. My self-awareness says, “Paul, you have reached your limit. You achieved the goal in coming here. You rode a scooter with the dolphins not once but twice. You say the tuna darting all around you. You did it. Now, relax and don’t make a fool of yourself by needing to repeat what is essentially the same experience over and over again.” These guys are of a different demographic. Give them time.
The dolphin self-awareness point is fascinating in that one study proved that dolphins recognize themselves in a mirror. The only creatures shown to be able to do that are, besides us humans, chimpanzees, elephants and magpies. Humans recognize themselves at around a year of age—dolphins recognize themselves at about 7 months.
While looking in a mirror, these guys check out their various body parts like we humans do, examining the insides of their own mouths and posing in various ways showing extreme levels of self-awareness.
I look in the mirror in the head at my v-birth aboard Kiki and do not regret for even a moment that I didn’t push myself to the point of exhaustion. These other guys—they don’t get it. At lunch—fresh tuna don’t you know—I was asked if I didn’t want to go out one more time.
“Do me a favor,” I said. “Come back here in—what, for you, 35 years? Surround yourself by a bunch of much younger guys and let’s see how you behave. If you’re smart, you’ll decide to not give yourself a heart attack, not promote a stroke, refrain from straining your back or dislocating your shoulder. You will take great pleasure watching dolphins from the side and stern and bow as they leap and frolic. You will smile and the faces of your friends when they return to the mothership and, with great animation, describe what they just saw.”
What I don’t say to them is this: “What you just described is the same thing you described the last time you got back aboard. Good for you. But I’m not you. I’m the Kansas City Chiefs. I went to the mountaintop with these dolphins twice. I’m not the Kansas City Chiefs in that I didn’t attempt a third trip and embarrass myself.”
As I write this, alone on the back deck of the mothership, a massive pod of dolphins swept past coming unexpectedly from the bow. They were on both sides, some within arms length of the boat. They leapt and splashed. It took at least thirty seconds (that is a longer time that you think it is) for the entire pod to pass by. I loved it. It was beautiful. And I didn’t strain a blessed thing as I took it all in.
The crew caught lunch this morning. The tuna steak lunch was sublime. The coffee is great.
I don't know how Patrick keeps all this stuff straight but he does. The photographic evidence of what we did here is over the top. I'll tr to post some of it in a later chapter when we have the band witch to allow it.
Tomorrow. I'm going out with the dolphins tomorrow. Last chance.
