On August 15-17, 2008 I will be giving a 2 day introductory workshop in Kona, followed by a special 3rd day of communicating with the Hawaiian reef. I am very excited to be finally sharing this magical work. When I was journeying in Bonaire the spirits of the ocean would regularly direct me to Hawaii and say, “These are the spirits you will be working with to bring this to life for people.” And so it is.

First of all I would like to say how excited I am that we will be hosted at a lovely home in Kona - (see the pics.) Thank you Dana for sharing your fabulous home with us! The first two days will be all about learning to journey and talk with animals, and of course connecting with our personal helping spirits. We will dance our animals and learn how to get their advice for ourselves and others. The second day we ask the teachers to help us with more advanced animal communication requests: Discovering hidden things about an animals unknown past, and connecting with animals who have died. And we will finish the day learning how to request a simple open ended healing for an animal, guided by our compassionate spirits, of course!

Day three we hit the water! We will visit a a great snorkeling beach and connect with the animals and plants there up front and in person. Then we will journey to them and meet their spirits, and the ancient spirits who will bring us amazing lessons about all of life. It is such a joy. If we are lucky we will meet Dolphins. If we are luckier we will meet Parrot Fish, and if we are even luckier still, we will be given a sweet teaching by one of the tiny and exquisite Wrasses. My deepest hope is that we are graced by the spirit of Coral itself, the backbone of the reef and life herself. (just think for a moment about all the places adorned with fossils from previous coral communities, places like Carlsbad caverns, for example.) Wow!

I promise you will meet Parrot Fish, Wrasses and Coral. We will just have to sing the Dolphins in to accomplish the first in person. Their spirits will be there in our journey’s though.

You can register for the workshop at www.spiritlearning.com/kona. We are looking forward to seeing you there.

My deepest gratitude to the following for making this workshop happen:

• Carolyn Bjur in Chicago, for visualizing this and making it happen - THANK YOU!
• Liz Dacus for organizing this on the Hawaii side. THANK YOU!
• Dana for lending us your incredibly beautiful home and for your beautful heart. THANK YOU!
• Deb Decker, for telling the world. You are the best. THANK YOU!
• Spirits of the reef, for working with me through thick and thin - especially you Tarpon, THANK YOU!

Here is Deb’s press release

Aloha!

Today we went to Robbie’s, a rustic touristy conglomeration of watery activities and merchandise. We fed the tarpon. Everyone does. It costs $5 to buy a bucket of feeder fish and walk out onto the dock, where all the tarpon for 50 miles gather for free lunch. What a riot! I made friends with a special tarpon in Bonaire at a site called The Cliff. This fish stayed close to me, and when I was photoing jawfish on my last dive (and getting solidly bent) he came over to me and blew a large distinct bubble out of his gill. He said, “You don’t belong here” in a friendly way. So I was especially happy to have the chance to feed a mess of them and say thank you!

After that we rented a kayak and floated through a mangrove water trail. We saw a young female crocodile (the guide man who told us the route to follow said she was a she) sunning on a boat hull. And as promised we saw one young nurse shark in the shallows. We didn’t see the 5 manatees who live in this grove, and we were indeed disappointed. But swarms of snook, snappers, barracuda, snappers, parrotfish and who knows what else made up for it. So did the osprey flying before us through the cut in the trees, and a diving bird who cruised with us for 15 minutes or so. One thing about Florida, it can be blustery. We worked our fannies off paddling - which we promptly replaced with pizza and cinnamon buns at a wonderful Italian coffee house in Ilsamadora.

Tomorrow we go home, via the Everglades and Ft. Lauderdale’s no doubt brutally windy beach.

Who would ever have guessed that the mangroves are just as cool as the reef? Matt and I went to Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo today with the intention of seeing what we could see snorkeling from the shore. The turtle grass was fun, we saw occasional small snappers, spaghetti string worms with tentacles so long that they seem impossible and occasional barracuda. Then we decided to explore the shoreline. WOW! The mangrove roots were covered with bright colored sponges, oysters and a gazillion bizarre creatures I didn’t recognize. This was as good as most coral reef dives I have done, perhaps because it was my first time seeing it, but really, it is like the most incredible reef, just in miniature.

My favorite was an elusive blenny (a 1 inch fish who hides in things) who was tucked into an abandon oyster shell. You can see a picture of one here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Algae_blenny.jpg/690px-Algae_blenny.jpg

Inch long baby barracuda were tucked up to the limbs, but not everything was tiny. There were schools of 2 foot rainbow parrot fish chewing on the roots, and enormous somethings tucked into the tangle. Swirls of tiny silver sides made the water churn. The black tipped mangrove snapper and the the striped grunts were the most plentiful fish. Special treats: a large cowfish and several really cool bandtailed puffers.

The next day we returned but the wind was up and the visibility was poor. So we went into another area and found a mother load of lobsters and one big fat crab. Grin!

That afternoon we visited the wild bird rehab center to see the 3:30 feeding fest. All the pelicans in the neighborhood come for handouts. What a blast it is to grab hand fulls of fish from the buckets and plop them into the pelicans’ open mouths. The herons of all shapes and sizes gather at a pond up the path and get fed smaller fish. They are delicate looking but tough competitors. I highly recommend visiting this place if you are ever in the Key Largo/Travenier area of the Florida Keys. Don’t miss the bone pile where they put out goodies for the the raptors to devour.

A perfect end to a perfect day, sunset over the water at our hotel, the tiny and delightful Island Bay Resort at MM 92.5.

At 5:00 PM we left Key West and headed back to Parmer’s, our boring hotel in Little Torch Key for our final night of four. The next day was the treat of all! Dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key. What to say that has not been said before!

We signed up for a Dolphin Encounter, where we interacted with a mother, Marena and her yearling calf Kyle. They did all the tricks with us, including Marena towing us around the pool hanging onto her dorsal fin. What a complete blast! These dolphins are caring gentle and love to play. Matt is really the one to tell how it changed him.

Matt approaches understanding his encounter from the evolution based frame of mind.  “First off, just coming into such close contact with another earthly life form that is so intelligent, more so than other domesticated animals. And you just can’t help but think that these beings didn’t follow the same chain of evolution as us, because they are as intelligent as us, how can this be unless it is a parallel path to us?” Matt went on to share his amazement at how the dolphins teach each other the behaviors, and how closely knit they are when doing group tricks like leaping and spinning.  Most of all I was taken by how curious the dolphins are about people, just as we are about them. They just sat and watched us, just as we do them. We appreciate each other as equals.

I was taken by how much they delight in our delight, in delight itself. My horses are clicker trained, and I have seen the reciprocal joy first hand, but not to the extent that I felt it here. These sweethearts want nothing more than for all of us to be in love and in joy. I believe it is a reflection of two things: the Dolphin Research Center is positive and  honoring, and the dolphins themselves are powered by native joy.  A crappy place could probably diminish this passion in them. Certainly dolphins are indeed wild animals with their own ways. I have known divers who were beaten up by wild dolphins. Maybe this was just the dolphins not realizing the diver was a fragile playmate. Maybe it was the dolphin expressing territorial rights. Or maybe the dolphin mirrored the diver’s attitude.

My communication with these dolphins was straight forward.  “Who is your favorite trainer?” A thin blond woman (There were two of them, but Matt thinks it was Jessica, who was very enthusiastic and sweet.) “Tell me about what makes you happy?” Getting a spin perfect, sliding on a slick surface (like a seal), sex, the quietness of night, a low whistle that one of the trainers gives when he comes out alone and gives back rubs, helping small kids who are “special needs”. This came from a large dolphin named Delphi.

In Bonaire this February I spent a morning interacting with a wild pod. They told me where they would be and when, and I went to greet them, and was always just a little bit late. Finally I was able to see them, swim out to them and be with the trailing members of the pod, a mom and her calf, as they dove beneath me. Nothing even close to touching distance. The Dolphin Research Center discourages all interaction with wild dolphins because it causes dolphins to loose their wariness of people. They cited cases where moms teach the babies to approach boats for food hand outs (the center implied that this was in replacement to teaching them to fish) and that the offered feed wasn’t the correct food for them. The more serious concern to me was that the dolphins would then be unafraid of the wrong people – people who would molest them by plugging their air holes, and worse. This is a concern that I must ponder as I head for Hawaii in August, with the hope of connection with spinner dolphins.

What a neat old pirate and navy town Key West is, a small grid of narrow streets with thin wooden buildings with railed balconies. The theme is drinking, bar after bar salted with plenty of old drunks to make them feel alive. In between are the ubiquitous t-shirt and trinket stores, art galleries and ice cream shops that signify tourist traps. Old Spanish wrecks lie off shore, and adventuresome scuba divers with money can become members of the single company that has the salvage rights. This firm has recovered hundreds of millions in gold, silver pieces of eight, emeralds and artifacts and has hopes for even more. Going through their maritime museum is really fun, and I did spend an evening dreaming of diving for treasure. But according to their prospectus my income level doesn’t qualify me to invest, a blessing in disguise to save me from pirates. We did find culinary treasure at the south end of Duval street in a little French restaurant. Their blackened tuna salad is perfection on a plate, just delicious. Also not to miss, the Butterfly Conservatory. We were completely enchanted by the beauty in every detail of this place. Hundreds of butterflies along with assorted small birds flitting through a forest of perfect house plants and small trees accompanied by a babbling brook complete with fish and turtles, all squeezed into a 1500 square feet (maybe) glass conservatory. Splendid!

It is April 30^th. Matt and I have been on a slow vacation through the Florida Keys for the last 10 days. This is the trip account, with a heavy emphasis on our connection with wildlife.

During the first week we tried diving on Looe Key. This is my first time getting wet since I was bent in Bonaire in early February. This first dive was uneventful, which is a blessing. I felt exhausted, but not bent. We dove one dive on the first day, took a day off and dove one on the next days, both very shallow. I felt the tweak in my heart area when I took a full breath. It is a familiar tweak, and now I suspect it is the culprit. My habit is to breathe deeply and slowly, which is great for breath and buoyancy control. But if there is a small hole in my heart, then that deep breath under the additional pressure of the ocean would open the hole up. Then the little gasses can go through and build up to cause trouble. This is the reality. I am learning to take much shallower breaths. I have had my heart tested for PFO, the acronym for a hole in the heart, and the test was negative. But this feeling is reality. I can’t reproduce it on land or on the surface, only at depth. About 6 hours after our second dive I began to get shoulder pain. Then next day I awoke quite encumbered. It felt like the bends pain again, but there were complicating factors – I had paddled a kayak 2 days before for several hours, and I have a history of having this shoulder seize when I am under stress. So I decided to treat it with vitamin I and massage. 2 days later it was resolved.

Matt and I probably won’t dive again this trip. He got sea sick, and all I can tell him is that the next area we were going to dive is much rougher. Of course my pain has nothing to do with the choice J.

We have seen the big animals. A large loggerhead was surfacing as our dive boat went past. Captain George cut the engine and we watched the big guy take a deep breath, then slowly descend. Just beautiful. This was the third turtle of the trip. The others were swimming off of 7 mile bridge, which is the delineation between the upper and lower keys. The old bridge is now a foot path leading to Pigeon key, a cluster of original buildings, now a park, about 1.5 miles off shore. We didn’t get that far because we were tired from the 5 mile kayak trip that morning. The hotel in Grassy Key offered free kayaks and we accepted. The water was so inviting with a light breeze and little chop. We set off to nowhere and then decided to go the mangroves we saw far down the coastline. How much farther? Paddle, paddle, paddle! Looking down the water seemed devoid, then there was a white triangular flash of the eagle ray! Yeah, my favorite! We circled to be sure, and that of course caused the displeased ray to promptly depart. More paddling and then swoosh, a shark! Now we were having fun. Finally we reached the mangroves and enjoyed the great white egrets hunting from their hidden perches. On the return the water churned with three big snooks, which Matt saw but I missed. Then like morel mushrooms there were more of them, yummy giants in the shallow murk.

Upon entering the water for the first dive I was struck by the slatted forest of fan corals on top of the reef. Blue, yellow, purple, looking like cross sectioned leaves. A similarly flat file fish was the first one to greet us at 7 feet of sea water. He was orange, unlike the ones in Bonaire.

We tried to find a reported 300 lb grouper named Elvis, to no avail. But we did find goliath groupers, just smaller ones. The other large monster was a yellow snapper. There were large specimens of grey angel fish and barracuda, and a diversity of wrasses, damsels, sergeant majors and snappers. Overall the reef is pretty, but the coral is much abused and the fish life low density.

Matt and I were deciding whether to take a surface interval and do a second tank, or not, when a small boat in front of us began to disappear. The family on board was out for a snorkel and had just tied to a buoy when water swamped the stern and suddenly it was pandemonium. Being the closest boat we responded, then tossed lines to the two screaming teenage girls, their brother and father. I was surprised to see the men board our vessel first, while we hollered to the girls to let go of the upside down hull and grab the line. So it goes. We learned all about the features and benefits of Tow-Boat US, AAA for boaters. It was fun to have the Coast Guard rescue boat swoop up to our side and haul in their catch, a forlorn Boston family who had rented a boat from the wrong side of the tracks, and who were leaving their wallets, phones, car keys and house keys to swim with the fishes. Matt and I decided to call it a day.

The second day of diving was choppier and murkier. We returned to the reef, this time with no other boats around. Again we were the solo customers on Innerspace’s boat, a real treat. The reef right under the boat was so pretty. Those fans were just like a pigmy forest laced with fish. And in the crevices below big fish were everywhere. Our plan was to go out and follow fingers of reef up and back. We did this dutifully and at it was pretty dull. We did see a big nurse shark and a barracuda getting his teeth cleaned along with angels and other wonders. But mostly it was disappointing. Coming back to the boat the fans again were incredible and I was resolved to just hanging out there for the next dive. What I didn’t know was that had Matt gotten sea sick as we were gearing up, but didn’t share the news. The water was surgy around the shallow reef, and so his sickness increased as we dove. 50 minutes later when he got back on board Captain Robert was alarmed, and Matt was not saying a word. He was afraid if he even said “sea sick” he would hurl. I got on second, and after a minute inquired. Matt fessed up and we immediately departed. Note to self. If it’s wonderful where you are, don’t move. You may not get to see that place again.

I want to thank all of you for your loving support and comments. I really appreciate your care and attention. Tomorrow I get tested for PFO - a hole in the heart. That could have been the reason for the bends. We shall see. I have finally recovered and have my brain back in order. That is a relief. It was a slow boat back. I have met people online who got bent and were far more damaged than I, with paralysis and comas and all sorts of nasty things. I feel blessed to have gotten by with minor brain effects, easily healed.

I will be posting soon on these three subjects:

• A report on the mask workshop Sue and I hosted March 1+2 in Phoenix
• Working with the reef and other ecosytems
• Initiations, ready or not! (or what learned Shamanically from getting bent)

Meanwhile, I am setting up a section for people to post their journeys to heal the planet. We need this work, dontcha think!?

I am moving my new reef journey posts onto pages, and I will catalog them here. That way it will be easier for you to follow along.

March 14, 2008: Your Journeys to Heal the Land. The first is a series of Journeys by Lyn Benedict to heal the Open Pit Mine and the old mining tunnels in Butte MT.

Feb 6, 2008: Journey to the reef to help a woman who is crossing over. I learn that Barracuda is helpful in escorting the souls to the other side. That there is a dark hole in the bottom of the ocean where souls cross through to “heaven”. That the heaven is very similar to place on the other side of the shimmering portal, but that it is much more deep, and that coming back is hard to do. And I have a delightful middleworld experience with my two Spotted Eagle Ray friends.

Feb 14, 2008: Valentines day and I am thankful to be alive and well. What a week. Forgive me for not posting. I have spent the last 7 days overcoming decompression sickness, otherwise known as the bends. I am exhausted and happy to be heading home on Saturday.

Today I returned to Bari’s Reef, and this time I entered the water at 4:30. At 4:35 I was over the sand, and at 4:36 I was dancing with an Eagle Ray, then two. They were grazing together and they didn’t mind me one bit.

I spent 50 minutes swimming with the pair today. I got so close that I could see the smallest color patterns, even on their super thin tails. They were not put off in anyway, not in the least bit shy. I was close enough to touch them, but I didn’t attempt it. It just seemed incorrect to try. I have petted shanks and sting rays before. They didn’t seem to mind. I’ll have to journey to the Rays and ask them how they would like it.

Yesterday I did several sessions before starting my diving day. One was for a dog in Holland, and Spotted Eagle Ray came as a healing spirit. There are times when I want something so much that I figure I must be creating it. I thought that I had succumb to ego and was forcing the journey, but the Ray assured me I was not. And then to prove the point, the spirits started my next journey by merging me with an ostrich embryo who was trying to hatch. It was so vivid and bizarre. I was struggling to peck the shell, and felt exhausted and wanted to give up. Then I felt a surge of power in my abdomen, and I gave it one more hard peck and POP! I saw sunlight. I felt air, and my mom was there in all her glory. My siblings were chirping and I had all of life before me. How glorious! Clearly I didn’t create that - I didn’t have the foggiest idea how it connected to the client, and no sense that it was important to me. But maybe it was. Maybe I am hatching a new way of working by connecting with these reef animals.

When I was done with my clients’ journeys yesterday, I journeyed to the Eagle Rays to ask if there were anything I should be aware of when I was swimming with them. The Ray I was talking with said he preferred if I didn’t chase him. He said that it reminded him just a bit of a shark, and sharks are bad (the predator), and that he also didn’t want me to touch his tail. So I tried my best to stay along side. Once I got in front while the Ray was involved in digging, and that was a mistake. I must have startled him, as his eyes are all covered in sand when he is snouting through the bottom finding crabs. I apologized and we were fine.

I took my Reefmaster camera today, and it failed. It seemed to be taking pictures just fine, but not one recorded on the memory card. This is the third replacement camera Reefmaster has sent me in one year. As a side note, I do not recommend Reefmaster. Sniff! The pictures were so promising. I can’t replace the camera here on Bonaire. You will just have to journey to the animals to see them for yourselves. I did find some good footage on line though. Check this video out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ohHgtyoiLY&NR=1

Bonaire - Feb 6, 2008

The neighbor came over last night completely ecstatic. He had been diving (of course) and when he surfaced a big pod of dolphins was passing by farther out in the ocean. It was impossible for him to swim with his diving gear on, so he went to the car, stripped and drove down the beach to get ahead of the pod. He went in with only his mask, fins and snorkel and swam like a mad man to reach them. There were over a 100 he said, and they played with him on the surface and under water. He is a young fellow and can free dive pretty deep. This I must do!

I journeyed to dolphin, who works with me frequently, and asked for the best plan. She said they would be passing by down town at 9:00 AM. So at 9:00 AM I was there, and sure enough, so was a small pod. I tried to swim out to them, but it was impossible. They were too far out, too far gone and the boat traffic was scary. So I came back and asked again. “Meet us at Donkey Beach.” They don’t actually say the name of the place, they show it to me. I jumped in the car, made a quick stop to get a flash card for my camera, and when I got to donkey beach one of the dolphins was at the shore! The rest of the pod was further out. By the time I geared up it was too late again.

So I asked again, and they showed me the place called The Lake. Whoosh! This time I was prepared to get in the water upon sighting, but I wasn’t prepared for them to be so far off shore that I couldn’t see them. Fortunately two young people came up and told me, “The dolphins are right in front of that boat” pointing to an approaching boat about 500-1000 yards away. The kids swam like torpedoes and met the pod. I am not that fast but I did reach the tail end of the pod. I got to swim over and near about 10 dolphins as they passed by, but none surfaced with me.

I felt an incredible energetic calm come through me as I was near them. That could have been dolphin energy, or it could have been the endorphins kicking in from my mega swim to reach them. It was nice and the dolphins were magical. I had the camera, and when there was a group very close I aimed it, but alas it didn’t take the picture. Back in the car I asked again, and they said to come again tomorrow to a different place farther north at 7:00 AM. I look forward to it!