on boats. He felt as
though he already knew them, though how that might be he could not
say.
‘ Well I am hungry’ said Dancer. ‘Come!’ she said to Spirit,
‘let us eat flounder this morning.’ The two younger dolphins sped
off. Spirit took a great leap through the air and then the two
dived down several metres to the sea bed. After seven or eight
minutes or so they had eaten, though not as much as they would like
and they rose to the surface again to breathe.
Spirit and Dancer looked at each other across the surface of
the water. It always seemed so strange to do so, so different from
the glorious hues of the water.
Let’s explore again today’ said Spirit with a sense of
mischief in his voice. ‘I saw some very strange shapes on the other
side of the island. Big things they were, on the sea bed. I want to
find out what they are. I bet there’s good fishing to be had there
too.’
‘ Maybe they are the sunken vessels of man’ Dancer clicked. ‘And
maybe men float down there still, living off the mussels at the
bottom.’ Her eyes glowed with imagination.
‘ Don’t be silly’ retorted Spirit, blowing his air-hole free of
water.
‘ Is it safe?’ asked Dancer, a note of worry in her clicks. ‘You
know what Storm always says.’
‘ Well I think that Storm’s too careful and Moonlight’s too
careless. But if we take care of ourselves we’ll be just fine’ said
Spirit emphatically. ‘After all, these are our islands, it’s about
time we got to know them.’
After they found a reason to get away from the others, Spirit
and Dancer slipped away, breaking the water in graceful arcs as
they sped over the light frothy waves on the surface. The sun was
still bright and the water unusually clear. It was going to be a
good day thought Spirit as they raced along, clicking to each other
as they went. They passed close to a basking shark, its mouth open
wide, feeding on tiny krill.
‘ That thing’s big enough to eat us both’ joked Spirit as they
sped along.
‘ Lucky they’re not interested’ replied Dancer.
They came close to the rocky coast of the island. The sea grew
shallower here and the waves rougher, beating the rocks and
shoreline rhythmically. A dozen or so metres away from the shore,
there was a rock shelf as deep as a blue whale, with caves and
chasms and dark, intriguing corners.
Spirit and Dancer dipped down from the surface excitedly and
soon found themselves in a kelp weed forest. The long strands of
the seaweed waved slowly in the eddies and currents of the water.
They slowed down and pushed cautiously through the long, undulating
strands, growing so thickly that, before they knew it, they were
surrounded by kelp on all sides.
‘ I hope you know where you’re going’ commented Dancer
cautiously, but really she was full of excitement for the day
ahead. Small fry, their fish scales trembling, darted away quickly
in the gloomy depths as the two dolphins moved slowly
forward.
Eventually, they broke through into clear water again. They
took a gulp of clean air before diving again and doing so spied the
strange shapes ahead of them in the gloom of the water. Somehow,
the sea seemed to become quiet as they focused on the dark shapes,
silhouetted against the larger expanse of water. They slowly
approached, feeling nervous now at the strangeness of what they
were looking at.
‘ It’s an old ship’ whispered Dancer, ‘just like I said’. She
turned and gave Spirit a companionable nudge with her nose. They
could make out a huge hull, rusting and covered in limpets, with
two funnels drooping perilously above. In between were what once
must have been the decks, with gaping holes where doors had been
and a row of neat circles where brass portholes once glistened. A
moray eel slithered in through one of them and disappeared into the
murk. A shoal of small fish skittered away at their approach. The
two dolphins approached with a sense of excited anticipation
between them.
A big hole