As I sat on the rigid, cream painted seat in the Sea Rocket speedboat, all my thoughts began to settle as the high tide crashed onto the glistening shore. My Persian blue dress moved like a flag in the wind and my saltwater drenched hair curled as it dried in the sunlight. As the boat moved at a racing speed across the wide Atlantic Ocean, I could see the boardwalk drift into the distance like a candle in the moonlight. We were in Ocean City, Maryland, spending a week in early August entranced in the simple life. The people swimming in the ocean saw the boat speed by and kindly waved as hard as they could as if they thought we couldn’t see them. We disturbed the stillness of the water, creating a path of turbulent water in our wake. Hundreds of ripples emerged from all angles surrounding the boat and we began to speed into the rich deep water.


When I took a deep breath, my nostrils inhaled seawater-misted air. As I leaned my head out of the boat, I wondered about all the sea life that flourished underneath the surface. It would be my first time seeing dolphins in the wild. The only other time I saw them was at SeaWorld, captive in cement pools swimming in circles until they went psychotic. But here in the open blue sea looking over the halcyon horizon, I would see the creature that brought me the greatest happiness. Looking up into the cloud-free sky, I waved at the parasailers who were four hundred feet in the air and wished I could get that type of perspective in my own life.


As 105th street approached, we stopped. The engine wound down, and the boat came to a still motion. The water surrounding the boat slowly returned to a state of equipoise. The waves rocked us slightly, and I stood up and looked out into the water. This is it Arwa. The moment you’ve been waiting for. Two minutes passed and it felt as though time paused. I looked from the starboard to the port side of the boat not wanting to miss a sacred moment. One more minute passed, and that’s when a pod of four dolphins swimming in sync peeked out of the water exposing their blowholes. I held out my phone to take a video but realized that I wanted to see it with my own eyes, to experience the moment, rather than reminisce.


I scurried to the port side of the boat, not minding that the floor was soaked in salt water. I looked directly down, and there it was, a sleek gray grinning dolphin. The most majestic and playful creature I’ve ever seen in my life. The dolphin pushed water out of its blowhole wetting the pores on my face. I wanted to reach out and touch it but didn’t want to risk scaring it off. When I looked up, I surprisingly saw the other passengers surrounding me, jealous of the interaction I had between the dolphin. I later saw this dolphin reunite with its pod. A wave emerged near them, and the driver yelled out, “Look at this.” Attentively watching, I saw the dolphins one by one behind each other riding the wave as if professional surfers. I leaned over the boat unintentionally hoping to fall in and play with them.


As I saw them freely swim and jump into the water, earning themselves a perfect ten for their dive, my mind raced back to SeaWorld. Watching the dolphins swim in circles over and over again, unable to communicate and interact with their pod because they’ve been snatched from the only home they’ve ever known, the ocean.


Driving away from the proximity of the dolphins, looking at the waves developing, I wanted to get all the dolphins and free them back into the ocean. There, they can swim hundreds of miles daily, eat fresh fish, and have a long lasting family. Not just dolphins were the subject of human abuse, but all other animals in zoos and aquariums all around the world. All animals should live in nature where they belong, rather than behind metal bars or in cement tanks, victims of human amusement. I wanted to help them and decided that I would make it my mission to do so.