Dolphins in the distance...

We went for a walk along the beach to Porth Dinllaen yesterday afternoon. Getting out seems the thing to do at the moment. The beach was crowded, yachts flew along on the deep blue water, the mountains all hung with cloud.

Around the headland we went, past the pub and along the narrow walkway through the rocks with its rough-made steps and solid wooden pontoons, and up onto the golf course. It’s a long walk for me with the weight that I carry, but we took it easy in the growing afternoon sunshine.

We walked along the steeply rising path - and then in the distance, out on the sea, something broke the waves. A dark line of movement followed by an expectant stillness. Over and over we saw the spectacle, every minute or two, the dark line breaking the surface. What was it, it drew the interest of two small boats, and then a leap of something fast. Was it a single creature or many acting as one? We watched for an hour, sometimes we decided that we were watching a whale, other times a school of at least half a dozen dolphins. Eventually, as the individual animals broke from their play our sighting was confirmed as Dolphins at play in the Irish Sea.

Despite the distance and the lack of detail I can’t begin to explain the wonder of the sighting, how it held us spellbound, excited for the next break from the calm water. Just the knowledge that something so wonderful was in the water was enough for a while.