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Imagine yourself on a beautiful ocean catamaran. The air is warm, the water nearly the same as the air. The light ocean breeze fills the sails as they billow, the only sounds are the wind, the gentle waves lapping at the twin bows and laughter.

Get Your Team Ready
Captain Frank Future calls out, “Dolphins ahead, get your team ready, Andrew.” The excitement is palpable as the boom net is lowered and the snorkeling equipment is handed out. A quick re-brief, as we are being set upon by 300-plus extremely cheeky common dolphins.
Everyone’s focus is on their playfulness as they ride the boat’s bow waves. Different groups move in, rolling to their sides to catch a glimpse of the funny two legs sticking over the bows, and positioning themselves in the bow net to watch the show
As the first group gathers at the side of our ocean catamaran, Imagine our dolphin line is lowered into position. Our line is strung from each bow and lies in the water. It is about 10ft/ 3 metres between bows, so five of us easily fit on this line.

Electric Excitement
First in the water is Peter, a parent of one of our ’special’ youths, the UK’s inimitable Peter Sage, Fee Harris and Aleena Simpson from Sydney, and the dive-master is yours truly. Sitting on the edge of the boom net, swaying not-so-gently with the increasing afternoon swell, the excitement is electric; there are dolphins all around us. They have noticed us in position and are curious as to what we might be up to.
We are several miles offshore and moving ever deeper into the heart of the great Tasman Sea. Capt Frank cuts power and we slip off the side, and as quickly as a newly-born slug, the not-yet-tested group make the bow rope by swimming around the front of the boat.
As we take position, we are blessed with patient dolphins. They remain with us, with scores fishing, playing and making love, just as dolphins do in the main pod 10-20m away.

Sonic Vibration
In the water, I am present to a matrix of sonic vibration! I am nursing an intense middle ear infection that has almost severed my external hearing on the left side. I now hear the dolphins through my teeth and lower jaw, and it is amazing. They are saying, ‘Hurry up, you guys!’
When we are settled, I glance at my wild-eyed companions and when I get the thumbs up, it is only then that I signal our three lookouts that we are ready. Gently we begin to move forward as our experienced Captain brings us up to speed. Now it’s time to treat the dolphins to a bit of human watching.
This sort of interaction creates and promotes total integrity for the dolphins, as they are always moving forward and are always in front of us. It is an exhilarating experience! Riding the bow rope provides an amazing dolphin’s-eye-view of them as they bow-ride our twin-hulled vessel, crisscrossing the wake, spiraling and jumping with joy.

Laugh, Sing and Remember
We sing into our snorkels, laugh, and remember just how wonderful this world really is. This lasts for two hours, and we change teams every three to five minutes or when someone needs to rest. The dolphins seem to enjoy our company and love riding the bow wave and diving off to the side, only to come up under us, rolling side on to get a good view of these daring humans.
We are treated to a spectacle few will ever see, as this afternoon the dolphins are plentiful. After everyone who was game to try the aquatic marine viewing experience has had several goes, it is time to head to beautiful Broughton Island. Escorted by a breakaway group of about 50 dolphins, we set sail for the ancient Karuah Aboriginal sacred site.

The Happiness Guru
We make Esmeralda Cove by 5:00pm and once there, divide into teams for setting up camp. The children play on the shore or take walks out to the reef to forage for shells and special stones.
I always love this time, regardless of the effort required to make camp, as it brings everyone together: people helping people, laughing and enjoying community. On the boat, dinner is being prepared.
XL’s own Happiness Guru, the beautiful and talented Shelley Sykes, takes our ’special’ families to share some of Broughton’s wonders. Shelley and I have joined forces for this journey to raise money to allow the young men who live with cerebral palsy and their families the opportunity to share in this amazing program. Shelley’s smile is omnipresent and her laughter infectious as she brings out the best in all of us.
Dinner on Imagine is special. The hunger of oceanic travelers is heightened and when freshly-prepared food is made with passion and is consumed with joy, the very satisfied people begin to wonder why they didn’t step out of the rat-race a lot sooner.

Where I Am Now
It is fresh and cool, and on Broughton the lack of ground light allows the Milky Way to be seen in sharper focus, with the Southern Cross prominent in this magnificent galaxy. We sing with Bern Wheatley as Capt Frank masterfully accompanies him on harmonica. His trademark song, How Blessed Am I To Be Where I Am Now, seems to be absurdly appropriate.
As some drift off and retire, I find myself alone at waters edge, the tide coming in, the gentle lapping of waves mingling with the laughter from those gathered around the fire.

A Sign
The morning is crisp and clear, the wind a gentle offshore breeze smoothing the ocean. Roger, our deckie, tells me that a large oceanic bottlenose has just swum into the bay, and around the moorings very close to shore. Then took it off. “It’s a sign,” I say with a smile. It often happens when we are here.
Camp is broken in record time and after breakfast we make our way out of the cove and into the wide Tasman Sea. We have briefed and are super-ready for another session on the water when I catch Captain Frank with a gleam in his eye. About 300ms away the water is churning with large cetaceans. In front is a pod we know very well. It is the pod of oceanic bottlenose dolphins that we often meet when we have ’special’ people on board.
As soon as the bottlenose see us they make a delighted charge toward our twin bows. They are huge. Some of them are 12ft long and weigh 600-800k. This type of dolphin have very distinctive markings and are robust and fast, though today they wait patiently for us, casually cruising past the boom net as we prepare to enter the water.

Wild-Eyed Shelley
Pretty soon I have a wild-eyed Shelley Sykes and some of the youth ready for their first close encounter. After checking around I find we are in position, and as we begin to move forward, six bottlenose cruise under us. I feel their deep ‘whoop, whoop’ and distinctive guttural sonic pulses as they balance us energetically with biosonar, ready for the game ahead.
Bottlenose dolphins can emit concentrated ultrasonic pulses up to four to five times what we use medically to shatter kidney stones, though around us they are merely probing us ¨C probably checking out what we had for breakfast with their x-ray vision, and just who is secreting the most adrenaline. I’m a candidate for that honour, though looking at Shelley, she is running a close second.
We play with them and them with us for two hours, finishing our dolphin odyssey about four nautical miles off-shore with Broughton Island in the distance. The dolphins never leave our sides, waiting patiently as we change our teams. The children are given special attention as usual! The visuals from on board are transformational.

A Gentle Glow
As we make our way home to the beautiful bay of Port Stephens, the team is inspired. A gentle glow envelopes the boat, people are connected and share their experiences, new friendships have formed, people have met and faced fears, overcome hurdles, and left their lives behind for a brief moment while finding that their whole perspective has changed just through an encounter with those joyful beings that require very little of that which we hold dear.
This is dolphin-assisted therapy! It is based in joy and works with what we call the ‘joy factor.’ When we are joyous, we connect with each other and with the experience. Joy brings us present to the moment of now, past melts away, and future fears are forgotten. Joy breaks down barriers; it transcends blocks, both energetic and mental. Joy uplifts and raises our vibration. The truth is joy heals.
Several of the young people on board on this journey, our society considers disabled. They live with cerebral palsy, and I must say that I was transformed in discussion with these amazing masters. Things that you and I take for granted are difficult for them, I think the most difficult is being trapped in a body that doesn’t function the way you know it should - now that is tough!

Crystal Children
I believe that they are crystal children, here to show us the way. Masters who have chosen a more difficult path than some, perhaps in the gift of their lives, lived as their courage shines forth: then we may see just how great it is to be able-bodied and how miniscule our problems really are, given that we are able and capable, free to create whatever we choose.
Thanks to everyone who attended this program that was clearly one of our best yet. There were 27 people in all, with some coming from the UK, USA, Belgium and various parts of Australia.
To Shelley Sykes of 2B1 Happiness foundation; Bernard Wheatley, our music man, Jen Sedman, daughter of dolphin woman Patricia Athena, and our loving yoga / gong master, Frank Future, our beloved captain, and the hard-working crew of Imagine and the charity RUSH Haven Inc; and the various sponsors that helped make this program available for these amazing youth. Thank you!
I would also like to thank Paul Dunn for his support over the years, and to him and XL Results Foundation for sponsoring Radjko on this trip.

For information about Dolphin and Whale swim program happening now, contact:
Andrew Parker
Facilitator DolphCom Solutions
Port Stephens NSW Australia
www.dolphcom.com.au
+61249422344
+61438444500