Story from Our Guest

“AAAWWW!” I yawned. The majestic moon was still shining in the sky as I awoke. Hawaii is always such an amazing place to be no matter what time of day or season it is. It still felt like the middle of the night, but we had a long drive ahead of us, and once we were in the car, I fell quickly back to sleep.

“We’re here!” shouted my little brother in my ear.

“Geez Louis, what do you have, ants in your pants?” I replied sarcastically. “I don’t know, maybe I should check.” Thank goodness, he didn’t check. After a few minutes of gathering our gear together, we trotted with anticipation to the boat.

Captain China greeted us with great stories to share. His charm for life was contagious, and our journey was about to begin.

After the crew launched the boat into the water, we all climbed aboard Captain China’s boat. His boat could fit up to 30 people and everyone had some space to enjoy the scenery, and to participate in the group ceremony.

Captain China blew a horn in each direction to acknowledge nature and all the beautiful creatures that make up our earth. He repeated a traditional prayer that had been passed down many generations. Everyone held hands. The ceremony was very calming, and I felt our group was prepared.

After the ceremony we headed north to locate one of the dolphin pods in the area. On our journey, we saw other boats, and we were able to admire the big island of Hawaii with miles of water surrounding us. Captain China is an expert in finding dolphins, and other captains call upon him for advice in locating dolphin pods. Captain China is in demand to take groups of people for water adventures.

All of sudden, out of nowhere, we noticed a dolphin pod coming our way. Everyone on the boat came to the front because they were so excited to see the dolphins jumping and flipping out in the air. The type of dolphins we were seeing was called Spinner Dolphins. We even saw a few babies in the pod. I was hoping my dad would take some amazing pictures to enjoy when we were back at home.

Captain China gently stopped the boat, and everyone prepared for their underwater journey. In order to be safe in the water, we always need to be with a partner or a small group. We were also asked to swim along side the dolphins with our arms by our side so we wouldn’t scare the dolphins away. It’s also important not to touch the dolphins because human touch can make them sick, and none of us wanted to cause any danger to these beautiful mammals.

As we glided into the ocean, the water temperature was very brisk; however, I placed my head underwater to hear the sounds of the dolphins, and I forgot about the temperature of the water. As I looked around at the sparkling water, the dolphins surrounded me. This was their way of inviting me to swim along with their pod. For a moment, I felt like I was a guest of their pod. I had a blast swimming and watching them jump and spin above the water. As they would quickly hit the water and dive deeply into the ocean, I was able to hold my nose and take a deep breath into my lungs, which allowed me to go deep into the ocean with these peaceful sea creatures.

Captain China announced from the boat it was time to return, so I said good bye to my new friends and swam back to the boat. Once everyone was safely on the boat, we headed back to the harbor, but on the way Captain China noticed a large object in the distance. As we approached, we noticed it was a Humpback Whale that had traveled many miles for months to come have their babies in the warm water of Hawaii. Captain China immediately pulled out a fancy microphone and placed it into the water to listen to the Humpback Whales. The sound was like a cheerful hum in the distance even though they were only a few yards away. Every few minutes the whales would come up for air, and their babies would follow them to the surface. It was amazing to watch them come up for breath and go back down into the ocean. When their beautiful tails lifted into the air, we all knew they were returning deep into the ocean. As we returned to dock the boat, we saw several different sizes of turtles along the channel. I couldn’t believe how many turtles we saw; it was like a National Turtle Convention where they were all hanging out. All the fisherman were gathered as though they were having a National Fish Convention with lots of bragging by proudly displaying all their fish they had caught that morning. As Captain China docked his boat, he was proud to give his report to the group. The fact that we had seen several dolphins and whales on our morning journey certainly gave creditability to his famous reputation.

I was so caught up in watching whales, swimming with dolphins and checking out the National Turtle Convention that I did not realize ten bags of chips had been devoured by my baby brother! He joined in on all the bragging going on, convinced he had broken a world record. The bad news, I later checked my Guinness Book of World Records and he wasn’t even close. He just had a bad stomach ache for the rest of the day which made him very cranky!

I decided to hit the beach, to ride some waves, and to think about the mysteries of the sea. In the distance, I saw a beautiful sunset mirroring on the sparkling water, and I reflected how ironic that Captain China’s boat is called “Sunlight on Water.”

This story was written by Morgan who is 10 years old. He submitted his story about his experience on Captain China’s boat to a contest at his local library.