“Voices in the ocean” by Susan Casey

After working through my first summer season as a guide at Lobosonda, it was sadly time to return to the European continent, a place void of all the magical treasures of the Atlantic Ocean. On a rainy evening in London, I entered a bookshop with my brother and was instantly drawn to a shelf containing several books with a familiar colour; the deep aquatic blue of the ocean. One of the books had two Bottlenose Dolphins gliding along its cover and had the words “Voices in the Ocean” written in a bold white font. Desperate for a medium that would transport me back to my beloved ocean, I flipped through the first few pages and was instantly hooked.

It was Casey`s prologue that got me. Here she authentically articulates the indescribable feeling of encountering wild dolphins in the open ocean. It was a feeling I had missed to dearly and could completely relate to and I was immediately grateful to her for bringing it all back. The encounter inspired her to learn more about the “haunting” world of dolphins and our controversial relationship with them.

Despite the initial motivation of gaining her own personal growth in this endeavor (which also gives the entire book a very honest tone), Casey`s account of humanity’s fascination for dolphins is as colourful as it is thorough. She speaks of the scientific findings of incredible scientists such as Lori Marino, Robert Baird, Ken Norris and Denise Herzing but also addresses the controversial work and troubled mind of the famous John Lilly. She visits Ric O`Barry in Japan to support him in the fight against the horrific dolphin massacre in Taiji and confronts a dolphinarium-giant in the Solomon Islands. She swims with wild spinner dolphins in Hawaii and travels to the ruins of the nature-worshipping Minoan civilisation. Apart from all this, the book is dubbed a “celebration of these beloved animals”, delivering facts which I previously hadn’t known. After reading this book, the level to which we underestimate how sophisticated these creatures are, became crystal clear to me.

This multi-faceted approach addresses all aspects of our picture of dolphins and helps in understanding where we stand in all of this which, in my eyes, is crucial at this stage. It is a book that I wholeheartedly recommend. Casey has introduced several new heroes to me in this illuminating chronicle and has, in doing so, also become one herself.

by Paula Thake