Great Adventures Around the World | Great Adventure on the Side

When setting out for the wilderness or a distant journey, we’re inclined to have preconceptions of what our great adventures will be. Often, though, it is the peripheral events – things not necessarily tied to our objectives, which define our greatest of great adventures.

One such event springs immediately to mind for me. In the mid 1990s, my buddy and I set off on a drive to the Florida Keys with dreams of coral reef and tropical fish. It was a dive adventure we’d been planning all year and just about all we could talk about in the months leading up to the trip. The diving lived up to our expectations and we had a great time full of amazing dives during the day and an equally rich nightlife.

As our trip wound to a close, we headed out on our last dive of the vacation, a two-parter that included more amazing reefs and a fantastic wreck dive. Everything had been as it should be and we hauled ourselves back on to the boat, tired, thirsty and very much satisfied. But it was on the boat ride back that the defining moment of the trip occurred for me.

“Dolphins!” cried the captain, and all heads turned to look. Captain John steered the boat in the direction of the pod, easily a dozen sleek grey forms slipping above and below the surface, and turned to advise us, “anybody wants to dive in you’ve got one shot at this. No time for tanks, just fins and masks.”

Despite our fatigue, four of us took him up on the chance, scrambling for fins, masks and snorkels before leaping overboard. Others watched our desperate efforts and before I cleared the deck and felt the warm Florida water wash over me again I heard one woman proclaim, “they’ll never reach them in time.”

She was probably right, I thought. Captain John had done his best to position the boat for an intercept but the animals were turning slightly to go around us. None of us were ready to give up, though, and we swam for all we were worth to put ourselves in the path of the approaching animals.

I found I’d slipped ahead of my fellow swimmers. I could hear their voices and splashing falling behind. Before long, I’d positioned myself as best I could but, to my dismay, those grey forms were no longer at the surface. I took 4 quick, deep breaths, trying to hyper-oxygenate my blood, and then dove beneath the surface.

There, below me, were the dolphins. I kicked down as hard as I could in a desperate bid to reach them but I was too late. I’d seen them, sure, but hadn’t come within 20 feet of them. But as I stared in the direction the beautiful creatures had gone, I noticed two shadows coming back towards me. Before long, two became six. Six became ten, then more! The next thing I knew, a wall of smiling, bottle-nosed faces was before me.

The first two which had turned to investigate approached closer still. No more than 8 feet from me, they paused and I felt my body assaulted by clicks and thumps. It was an astounding sensation, felt as much as heard, and I realized I was grinning from ear to ear.

Satisfied with their investigation, the dolphins turned and continued in the direction they’d been heading. The brave pair looked back one last time as if to ask if I was coming with them. Then, one after another, they all dissolved into vaguely dolphin shaped shadows before they and their chirps and clicks disappeared entirely. I was left floating in a vast deep blue with only the memory of the event and the sudden dawning realization that I wanted – very much needed – to breathe.

I looked up to see what I was up against and became a bit desperate. I could barely make out the fins of those who had followed me floating some 60 or more feet away at the surface. I kicked with all I had and made a drive for the sun and air above. That I’m still around to write this tells you I made it, but it was close. I was hauled aboard the boat and surrounded by envious faces and excited voices all wanting to know what I’d experienced. I shared the story as best I could but realized that no words would ever capture the moment in which I felt measured, accepted and invited as a member of an alien species in an alien world.

Everything else I experienced on this trip, the amazing scuba diving, the great food, the relaxed flirtation with women over drinks, even the near fatal car wreck on the way home which we miraculously escaped without a scratch – all of it just pales to that one brief moment which I’d not planned for or expected.

The point is that the really great adventures aren’t in you guide books. They aren’t something you can request from your travel agent or your hotel concierge. The truly great adventures are the spontaneous, unexpected events we somehow stumble into and carry with us for life. If you’re interested in learning to scuba dive, you can read a bit about my own introduction to the sport at Break Away Adventure.

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