Swimming With Dolphins

Let's face it: all of us harbour the hope of doing at least a few life-alter-ingly amazing things during our brief time, but few of us ever dare jump off the out-of-control carousel to do them. Even if the appetite and intent are there, we are often lost for directions and possibilities.

The best you can do is to be ready for the experience when it strikes - as it struck me on a recent visit to Western Down Under.

When people think of Western Australia, most people conjure up a squeaky clean city and a vast, rust-coloured interior. But this dusty and parched land can be as low-key and understated as its people, especially when it comes to the magnificent natural gems in her midst.

Most are known only to locals who don’t seem keen to share their natural secrets. Could it be that the tourist traps on the map are simply effective decoys? You can’t blame me for being suspicious.

Well-known to all tourists to W.A. is Monkey Mia - a coastal spot a hard day's drive north of Perth where visitors are allowed to wade only knee-deep into the surf to observe - but not play with - the dolphins that regularly frequent this coastal stretch.

But go an easy half hour south of the city and you’ll come across Perth’s amazing ‘suburban secret’ - the possibility of truly unrestrained interaction with both dolphins and seals - wild, untamed, and yet cautiously approachable. This is Ground Zero for nature-minded adrenaline junkies.

Terry Howson, a laid back, business-savvy surfer/marine biologist, runs a quiet, barely advertised, two boat operation called, propriately enough, "Swim with Wild Dolphins", out of Rockingham, a non-descript coastal suburb of Perth.

His is an amazing story of persistence. Ever since he was a kid, he was intrigued by dolphins and their behaviour. He knew that anyone could lure a dolphin into close proximity with only a couple of fish as bribe.

But Terry wanted to explore the possibility of making genuine and trusting friends with dolphins - meeting them long-term and regularly on common, equal ground; interacting based on genuine trust and curiosity rather than short-sighted bribery.

For the next four years, Terry took his boat out alone into the bay every morning in the hope of gaining some trust from the sceptical and shy dolphins. It was well over a year before he even dared join them in the water.