It was in early Novemeber of 1987 and I was on my first visit to the Dingle Pennisula with my wife and her family. There were five of us in one car and we stayed at a B&B that was owned by Tim and Eileen Collins. Tim was a Garda in the area and Eileen ran the B&B in their home. The first morning at breakfast Tim told me about the Dingle Pennisula its attractions. He said a young dolphin had come into the Dingle Bay and the local fisherman thought that the dolphin had lost his parents after they got caught in the big screws of

the ships coming in and out of the bay dropping their catch at the Dingle docks. They came up with this theory because when a big ship was coming into the bay the dolphin would  head over to where the ship was moving as if in search of something.
Tim said a young neighbor lad of his would go to a sheltered inlet area in the bay and  swim with “Fungi,” the dolphin. Tim promised to lead us over to the area where Fungi and Brendan, the local lad would swim together. Of course we agreed and we were off. The others went off to see the dolphin while I talked to Tim then I ran off to find the others. It was starting to rain when I came across them and they were headed back to the car to get dry. My brother-in-law told me that the lad was there on the beach but the dolphin was off in the bay and that the lad didn’t have much to say. I told him that I wanted to see the area and would come back to the car in a bit and we would take off.
When I reached the beach, Brendan was standing near the water and I told him that Tim had introduced me to his father the day before and that I was there to watch him swim with the dolphin. We talked a bit when he pointed to the water and said that Fungi was back in the area and I should jump in the water with him to interact with Fungi. As I didn’t have a swim suit with I took off my clothes, left them in a pile swam out to wait until Fungi came around and sure enough Fungi came swimming by about 10 to 15 feet from me. Brendan said to dive under the water and pick up small rocks and knock them together under water to draw Fungi’s attention. I did and he came swimming by closer. All this was while I was under water. I had learned as a kid to make a chirping sound with my tongue and teeth which I also did under water. This clearly caught the attention of Fungi and he would swim by me ever so close at a high rate of speed. This continued for awhile until he came so close to me that I was able to put my hand on his body as he swam by it felt like a slippery hard plastic cover. After about 20 minutes of this action Fungi left the area. Brendan said that Fungi was going out to the deeper water to feed and would come back after a half hour or so. “That, Brendan said, was his habit.” I had an exalted feeling as I got out of the water to find my clothes only to realize that there was a bus load of school children lining the cliff top that surrounded the beach. As I was in the buff I ran behind a large rock and quickly dressed, said good by to Brendan and headed back to were our car was parked.
I thought I was gone for only a few minutes however I met my brother-in-law on the way back to the car and he reported that everyone in our party was very upset with me because the car was locked and I had the only key as I was the driver. I had left the car unlocked when I walked to the beach to meet the famous Fungi but it seems that Tim, the Garda thought it best to lock the car and did so. The four some were waiting in the rain while I was swimming with Fungi.
They didn’t care that I had had an experience of a life time, swimming with a wild dolphin in the waters off the Ireland coast. Later that day as I was drinking a pint in a pub a local asked “if I was the Yank that was swimming with Fungi that morning?” I realized then how fotunate I was to have befriended Brendan and to have jumped in the water to met my new best friend Fungi.