Still sick as dirt, and to top it off I sound like I’m 90 and have been smoking my whole life instead of 25.
I didn’t quite pop out of bed this morning. But I was coaxed out of bed with a “surf uber” to El Porto, courtesy of my friend Brendan Simmons. We met my long lost seaster and mermaid bud Jackie Kwan at the end of the El Porto parking lot, fed the cash-guzzling meter, and walked down the beach – even with my new board, the burning feeling in my throat and the meager looking waves weren’t amping my enervated spirits.
Tiredly I trudged through the sand, and popped up somewhere in the icy Pacific lineup. Jackie and Monica Colavita made their way out soon after, and we all shared stories, talked about surf trips dreams of living in camper vans, and traded off in the difficult bumps. Then in the midst of hacking up a lung, a pod of friendly dolphins honed in on us from out of nowhere, and sailed by within 10 feet of our little unexpecting group, diving under our surfboards and jumping up on the other side. Dolphins make any day better. And I can’t believe I caught it on video (finally).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQJc4bnF0KM
After that pleasant little surprise, cheer was in the air and their aura of play seemed to rub off on the mediocre morning. For the rest of the session a wider smile and more of a relaxed demeanor seemed to settle into everyone’s spirits. The waves I caught were longer and stronger, and they must’ve also lifted the fog, because the sun started shining brightly and the waves even got better.
Moral of the story, dolphins are magical.
