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I was heading up to Wellington the next day to sell some carvings. When I returned, I was kitted out in 7mm of full wet suit, plus mask, snorkel and flippers and a good dose of enthusiasm. We met again and what a revelation it was to get a good look at her. The interaction was pretty low key and remained so over the next few weeks, though I did get closer and she became more trusting of me. And then I flew overseas for a few weeks.
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Part of my reason for writing this is from a promise I made to Wade Doak - one of the foremost authorities on solo dolphins and NZ fishes. After a couple of years I found a contact address for Wade and sent him a letter, the result of which was him coming to Golden Bay to meet the dolphin. We took the housetruck to Onekaka and spent a couple of days with her.
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She often stood on her head and I would dive down her body giving her a massage on the way. It took me a while to figure out that she was usually pointing to a clump of seaweed. Later she had to get direct by giving me a clump which I started massaging her with it. That had to be about her most favourite thing of all. That seaweed must feel really good to a Dolphin.
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We swam back around and lined up again for the next wave. I could feel her whole body trembling with anticipation. As the wave reached the critical point, we were off again. We caught many waves that day but as the surf got bigger and our excitement and risk-taking grew, we both got swept onto the wharf pilings and I had to call it off before one of us got hurt. (Probably me - but I was more worried about her).
AIHE GETS TOO MANY VISITORS
She was a very friendly dolphin with almost everyone (though she did have her favourites) but on very rare occasions she would for no apparent reason stop a person from coming into the water. I watched her one day (I have no reason why) swim over to a chap and wouldn't let him go past knee depth. She parked herself in front of him and shook her head and snapped her jaws at him until he backed out of the water. I talked to him later and he seemed like a nice guy so what upset her??? She had no intention of hurting him or anyone but she made her feelings very clear, once he left she switched back to normal.
I was reminded of her getting stroppy with someone to the point where they left the water.(She later gave her daughter a fish - trying to make up?)
In her later years there were a lot of people coming to see her and she did get a bit more fussy and stroppy. I have a feeling the chap I mentioned earlier did get a nip but no blood was drawn. Dolphins certainly bite each other as part of their social behaviour, I'm probably more surprised that she didn't bite a few more people the way they treated her at times!
The last summer she was at Onekaka there were up to three tour buses a day coming to see her (small gravel road, not much parking, one dolphin - you can imagine the rest ). So she had a summer overdose followed by a lack of interactions over winter. Must have been a wee bit confusing for her. In all the time I swam with her she never showed any aggression towards me and I saw very little towards other people.
AIHE BRINGS ME DINNER
The opposite of this was when she sometimes brought fish to people as gifts. Usually it was a Kahawai, often quite a large one. She once shot off and returned within minutes with a large squid which she offered me. I told her I didn't do squid so she took it back and munched it in front of my face with a cloud of ink swirling around me.
I don't think she had to work to hard for her food, there was always plenty of food around the estuary and wharf for her to eat. Often she would be in rest mode cruising a beat back and forth in front of the wharf until someone came out to play. Scientists tell us that they only half sleep maintaining an awareness. These times it seemed like she was in rest mode as the pattern and timing of her beat was very regular.
She liked other fish action. One day we were lying together out beside the wharf when a school of kingfish swam below us. So off she went to see what they were up to, returning minutes later and slotting back under my arm, I guess they were just cruising like us.
Another day there were a lot of people at the beach when suddenly the water exploded, with fish flying everywhere. I grabbed a friends canoe and paddled out into the middle of a meatball where the kingy's had herded a school of small fish into the corner. It was bedlam, fish and dolphin flying everywhere; I even had a kingy jump across the canoe in front of me. The dolphin didn't seem to be feeding but she was sure excited, racing around like a lunatic and leaping out of the water - what a hoot.
DOLPHIN SNOBBERY
I've been having a few discussions lately about their ability to choose whether they wish to interract or not. Ultimately they are free and can choose to come or go at will, they only seek us out through what seems to me to be a kind of loneliness: One day I was out by the wharf with Aihe. It was a big high tide and a long swim out but these 3 German tourists came out to see her. Typically I was draped across her back just mooching around exploring and we were enjoying each others company.
She wasn't really interested in these other chaps but with a bit of prompting from me she let one of them swim over. He started to give her a rub but I could see her watching him like a hawk. As he moved down her body he came to her dorsal and tried to push my hand off. My thought was "out of here" and somehow she dropped out from under him then took off. That was probably the longest dive we ever did under water surfacing at least 20 metres away. After that no matter what ideas I had to the contrary she would not allow them to come any closer, there was a boundary that she maintained and that was it.
When I came in I had a natter to these guys in particular the chap who came over and asked him why he had pushed her boundary but he really didn't know. He I think saw her as an object but left realising that she had thoughts and feelings and he'd just peed her off. I hope they got another chance at it as I'm sure he wouldn't have made the same mistake again.
When she had lots of people with her she would often choose one or two people and spend time with them to the exclusion of all else. If someone gets up their rostrum they have the whole sea to 'escape' to, they are not prisoners (unlike the captive ones we cage for our amusement which is another issue altogether). In all the years of being with her I quckly came to being her friend, once I really met her I never saw her as just a dolphin, which might explain the quality of the relationship I had with her.
Here is a story related by Sheryl Gibney from her visit with Aihe:
"My fondest memory of Aihe was on the second day I was there -- You and she were swimming off shore and it was very windy and I was not going to chance getting into difficulty going out to the both of you. Aihe brought you in while you were hanging onto her dorsal fin. She pulled up beside me and you looked up and said -- "she wants you to hang on". I did and we swam parallel to the shore stroking her side. She had her eyes closed -- I reckoned if she was a cat -- she would have been purring. She shook us off and you two return to deeper water. Just as I was getting out -- she cut me off (I nearly sh.. myself -- she gave me a hellava fright). So here I was cuddling a dolphin on my lap not wanting to get out of the water. I had a plane to catch in Nelson.... Bugger!"