Bottlenose dolphins off Cromarty

©EcoVentures - Craig Morris

I have four granddaughters: two now adult, two aged 11 and 8. I often had them for ‘sleepovers’ and of course at bedtime they always wanted a story. They did not want any story from a book – they had heard them all before, so I had to make one up – the favourite being about a dolphin. Living on the sea front the children spent all summer on the beach and often saw the dolphins jumping out of the water – hence this story.

‘One sunny day the girls were on the beach making sand castles. All of a sudden they heard a great ‘whoosh’!  Looking round, they saw a huge dolphin had landed at the water’s edge. This was a magic dolphin. It asked the children if they would like to have some fun by coming for a ride with him. They thought, ‘how can this happen?’ But out of the dolphin’s back came a golden ladder. They were amazed to see this and hurried up it. When they got inside the dolphin it was like paradise. There were all sorts of sweets, cakes, ices and games, and the bottom of the dolphin was glass so they could see the bottom of the firth and were mesmerized, looking at the sea creatures: fish, lobsters, crabs and the seaweed swaying back and forth. They had a trip to Invergordon and saw Billy (Dad to two of the girls) then a trip to Nigg and saw Ronnie (Dad to the other pair). They decided they would like to go out towards the Sutors, so the dolphin headed that way. He dived deeper and deeper and after a while the children squealed with delight as there, sitting on a huge golden rock, was the most beautiful mermaid with long golden hair and her tail curled round the rock. She was singing softly. It was now time to head for home. The dolphin sped toward Cromarty and swam alongside the ferryboat, many other dolphins joining him. The children were landed safely on the beach and couldn’t wait to tell their parents about the wonderful adventure they had had.’

(The girls were usually asleep by now!)

I spent many hours sitting on ‘The Steps’ watching the children paddling, making sand castles, collecting shells or playing ‘smashie’ (you smash up sandstone with a hard stone and add water to make a paste which you then use for various things like ‘tanning’ your legs). Their days on the beach were indeed full of wonder. They are so blessed to live by the sea.

The Magic Dolphin - by Iris Winton, born and bred in Cromarty.