The shipping here is dense and coming and going in all directions. I’m unsure which route to take when the many dolphins in the vicinity come to help me out. One jumps repeatedly, slapping the water as if wishing to get my attention. Then a whole group come to swim alongside and I am irresistibly pulled right by their collective will, as the ship that I had mistakenly believed would continue astern of me goes left, to cross my bow.
We snake a course down and along the small wind waves in choreographed harmony. I am no longer a lone windsurfer, but part of the playful group, and wearing a grin as broad as theirs. Oblivious to the traffic now, I trust their piloting, and am lead behind another ferry. And then, with the rock of Gibraltar looming above us, and the danger of shipping traffic behind, comes the most exhibitionist jump yet: amidships and at eye level. It was a clear farewell, and, I know, marks the closing of one chapter and opening of another.