Delphinidae | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Delphinidae | Previous Challenge Entry
By Bea Edwards
08/19/15
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Utterly exhausted not believing I could convince my fatigued limbs to tread water for another second, I would have wept but for dehydration when a piece of jagged hull from our sailboat drifted past within reach.

Thank you Lord…

In the hours since our craft capsized Joe and I had been keeping each other above water with exchanged prayers of gratitude. Alternating between floating and treading we were grateful for the now balmy salt water easing our floatation.

Grateful the container barge had merely grazed our incapacitated, storm battered sloop.

Grateful after our main mast snapped, and its rigging became entangled with something on the huge vessels underside, that the powerful undertow hadn’t drug us into those massive propellers which we heard but couldn’t see in the inky pre-dawn darkness.

Now this new blessing of a flotation device amidst the tangled useless wreckage which periodically floated past. A few unrecognizable items of clothing and my light blue silk peignoir bought especial for the occasion, billowed around unrecognizable plastics. There were more than a few familiar but unsupportive kitchen items, and then we both groaned as Joe’s favorite shatterproof Miami Dolphins mug headed our way on the top of a slight swell.

Joe’s already sun cracked lips barely lifted at the corners, in incongruous amusement when we spotted his treasured oversized neon green foam dice , once hanging from the rearview mirror of his ‘79 El Camino, which he had insisted be suspended from the jib sail when he christened our 42 foot schooner the Holy Roller.

A number of purple rose petals torn from my anniversary bouquet, danced lazily across the sea, eliciting a wave of sorrow that our 25th anniversary sail to the Bahamas would never be realized.

But thankfully we could now rest and touch skin for reassurance as we floated aimlessly in the sea.

Leaning my head gently against Joe’s shoulder I breathed deeply of his beloved man smell and involuntarily napped within the safety of his nearness.

Joe’s choke of alarm sent an electric wave through my body as I followed his gaze to several dorsal fins creating slowly shrinking concentric circles around our makeshift raft.

Neither of us seemed able to breathe as the group of sharks leisurely surveyed the area.

Oh no God please no, not like this…

The powerful tailfins of a group of bottlenose dolphins barely brushed our legs as they came up from behind and beneath us and crashed into the predators effectively delaying the shark’s prospective meal. It was instantaneous and surreal. Right there in full splendor we saw our guardians repeatedly running interference like a well-orchestrated defensive line up.

The sharks prudently left the area but remarkably our aquatic rescuers chose to remain nearby. As the afternoon waned into dusk an extraordinary thing occurred. One of the pod nosed a floating bottle of water into our reach.

We gratefully sipped the fresh water and watched in wonder as more provisions were carefully navigated within our grasp. How could this be? How did these wonders of the sea know what to select from the debris floating around the periphery?

Joe and I entered that first evening with a sense of wonder at God’s provision. As we drifted across the tranquil sea, we retold what we could summon up from the book of Jonah and pondered other miracles and verses recalled from the Bible.

There was an inexplicable peace that night as we fortified each other by communicating God’s magnificent love. I remembered part of a couple verses from Psalm 139, “Even if I dwell in the uttermost parts of sea Your right hand will uphold me.” An apt prayer before both of us drifted to sleep for a few hours with our sentinels never far away. Their soothing chatter, series’ of whistles and clicks comforted our rest.

I was startled awake as I felt the brush of a sleek body against my legs as they kept watch near our raft and just as the dawn began to deliver its glorious ochre, magenta and lavender show across the horizon we heard the faint sound of a boat’s engine.

When the Coast Guard vessel came into view our night watchmen slowly disappeared into the mysterious depths in the opposite direction, but not before jumping out of the water in a breathtaking synchronized farewell salute.

[Psa 139:9-10 ESV] 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

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