Summer of 1953, before we sailed to the pacific.

The Day of the Dolphins.

That summer was beautiful, I had met an absolutely beautiful wave, in fact, she was chosen that fall to be the Navy's poster girl, on the recruiting poster. I'll call her Jan, Several of the Wisconsin Ensigns. All with dates took a run up, to tour Williamsburg, VA. We all had a lot of clean fun, touring the revolutionary village, including lunch at the Williamsburg Tavern. The food and ambiance was wonderful. We all had a real good time and Jan and I hit it off fine. In fact, we made a date to go to the beach next Sunday, way south by the Naval Air Station.

There were several LST's beached there, and one sunk off shore in about 50 feet of sea water. I had previously explored its cargo deck, and had found 4 Mike boats still secured, From one of the Mike boats, I had salvaged it's 12" bell, by dropping it over the side, and by going up for air, and diving back down, I would carry it towards the beach. After about 8 trips to the surface, I managed to bring the bell to the shore. This weekend, when Jan and I, arrived, there were only about 30 people in site. As we sat on the beach, enjoying an Anyeho and coke. We noticed that there was a man floating off the beach, on a rubber mattress. Suddenly, he got dumped. There was no one near him. He climbed back and lay down. Again, it happened! Again no one is site. The third time it happened, we all were wondering what was going on? This time, as he climbed aboard, he was on his hands and knees, staring into the water. Suddenly, out of the water, 10 feet in front of him, came the head of an Atlantic Dolphin, looking him right in the eye, the dolphin laughed, it sounded kind of like a chicken's cackle, but it was defiantly a laugh. The dolphin dumped him again. This dolphin wanted to play. Almost all of us on the beach went in the water, and he began swimming very close to us, this mammal must have had a previous contact, close up with people! We formed a chain; elbows locked, to seaward of him, legs all close together, as we closed the circle, this unusual animal, swam back and forth, looking for a way out. Finally he found one, and squirted through. But that was not enough. This stranger wasn't through with us yet, he continued to patrol back and forth, until he found his chance, and squirted back in. This continued for quite some time, until the group dispersed slowly, for various reasons. The last he was seen, he did a tail walk, a back flip, and then he departed seaward in a series of jumps. The day of the dolphin had come to a close. Jan and I watched a beautiful sunset, ad departed. If we had not sailed for the Far East, something may have developed from that budding friendship, but that was the last time I saw Jan.