On the Banana River in Florida, and later sailing with the Columbus Fleet ships, I encountered dolphins in their joy. A mother and calf greeted us while we fished, and as pods of dolphins graced our bow wake on the Niña, their energy and enthusiasm for life was contagious. In 1996 I signed on as a biologist to assist in a doctoral research project on the Boto, or Amazon Pink River Dolphin, surveying their population on a stretch of the Peruvian Amazon.
We flew into Iquitos where we were dispatched to the “Delfín”, the three-decked river boat that would carry us upstream into the Pacaya-Samiria Preserve. We traveled 200 miles, three days upstream and two days down in August of ’96. This is the Amazon’s dry season, when the enormous expanse of the great river is contained within narrow banks. This timing makes the surveying of dolphins as they rise to breathe very manageable. It also collects everything that lives in that murky water into much narrower quarters.
The water ranges from clear, to black, to white depending on where in the flow train you enter. The water is typically so murky that you can only see your hand in up to your elbow, so the Boto relies heavily on echolocation for food and its eyes are adapted to dim environs. The Pink River Dolphin has a full complement of teeth, and can bend nearly 90 degrees, unusual among dolphins. Its color ranges from a ruddy gray belly to a full-blown pink on their backs. They have a brother in the Amazon, the Tucuxi, a half-size version of the gray Pacific Dolphin that exhibits the same playful exuberance, grace, and speed as their ocean cousins. The Boto is a solitary dolphin, the Tucuxi travel in pods, breaching quickly in unison. There is a legend in the Amazon that the Boto can turn into a man or a woman and walk among us. This has helped save them from exploitation.
We caught piranha and ate them. We swam with dolphins and crocodiles. We slept to the sound of jungle birds and insects, and awoke to the enormous roar of howler monkeys at Huisto Cocha, pictured below, deep in the Pacaya-Samiria Preserve. When we found signs of jaguar I never felt more alive.
I cried when I had to get off of the boat for the return flight home.
Dolphin energy has appeared in my life in other ways and places, away from the great oceans and rivers of the world. Their great hearts inform and uplift us, their beautiful spirits clear and purify the realms that they touch. They are believed by some to be connected to The Pleiades, a constellation known as The Seven Sisters.
I have a guardian I call by that name; seven maple trees grown in a ring–– a prayer antenna. It is my privilege to honor it with prayers and offerings on high holy days. It is my hope that all will be filled with the love and devotion that is the dolphin’s birthright, and greatest gift to share.
Thank you for your loving presence in our lives.
In Love and Light
Namaste
