Hi all, I’m Sarah and a first-time WildQuest participant, as of September of this year.

I’d always been fond of dolphins from a very young age (and can’t really explain that given I grew up in the Midwest in the United States so they were definitely not a part of my life and I hadn’t even seen one except in movies at this point!) and whenever people would ask me what I wanted to be I would say “a dolphin trainer!”.

Now as I got older, I realized what captivity was and some of those thoughts shifted but I always still felt such a calling to have an experience with or be near them.

At the beginning of this year, I made a commitment to myself that I was going to start pursuing some of those dreams and heal my inner child along the way. I found myself earlier this summer searching online to see if there was any way to swim with dolphins in the wild, that way it was on their terms and they could decide if they wanted to be a part of the experience or not…low and behold there was! WildQuest!

After emailing 47 questions back and forth with Nala on how this all would work I decided to go for it and oh my goodness I’m so glad I did. It was more than I could’ve ever asked for and a transformative experience that I find myself yearning to have again and again.

The week I went, happened to coincidentally be all women which I feel brought a distinct type of energy and strength. The way we bonded, shared stories of what brought us, fears that we had, or inner child wounds that we were working on…it really didn’t matter, from 30 to 80, we were all the same inside. Wanting to be loved, wanting to be healed, wanting to be seen. Having this foundation then amplified our experience out on the boat for interacting with the dolphins as we were all so supportive of each other whether it was our first or 15th time.

We saw dolphins every single day in addition to so many other beautiful wildlife (sea turtles, stingrays, nurse sharks, jellyfish, schools of the most colourful fish, and more) and I had two specific experiences that will stay with me forever. Seeing the dolphins underwater and being in their presence is one thing, but when they decide to engage and interact with you is another.

I had an instance where two dolphins swam directly underneath me, so close that I thought our bellies were going to touch; and as they did it was slow enough where we made eye contact as they went by and when people say it feels like they’re looking into your soul, this could not be more true.

My second experience was when we were on the tow line behind the boat and “swimming in the pod” with the dolphins. They would cross back and forth underneath you or in front or behind you and you truly felt like you were all one.

Again, the way they felt so safe with us to be so close and share these moments together made my snorkel fog up for other reasons. These animals are such beautiful, majestic creatures that put life into perspective for us and offer the most healing of properties.

I can without a doubt say that I will definitely be back for additional healing and happiness and would recommend this retreat to anyone who is considering. You won’t regret it.

I also need to acknowledge the lifelong friends that I made who I still stay in contact with and the best random roomie a girl could’ve asked for. Planning visits to see many of these people over the next year.

Written by Sarah Mielke, Life Coach in NYC, following her WildQuest Sacred Journey experience. You can check out her beautiful footage from the trip via these links on her Instagram page @sarahmielkecoaching and also via our WildQuest Instagram page @wildquestbimini and here.