Dream (13 Imix)

Dream that could definately turn into a story:
Somewhere on the shore, a large building where people can go and swim with whales. These are not large whales or even "small" orcas, they are more the size of dolphins (a little larger) and sometime's there's dolphins there too. The amazing & unique thing about this facility is that the whales are there VOLUNTARILY. There is a chute or tunnel or something leading right to the water, and the little whales can come & go as they please. And it pleases them to stay and be hand fed and petted and loved. You can go into the water and hang out with them, or walk around a catwalk and look down at them. It's kind of like a big entertainment complex, but the main entertainment is these whales. And each whale is unique. In nature, biologists can tell whales apart by their tail flukes; here the whales also have varied skin tones and markings. The one I remember most clearly had mottled skin like an old man's bald head. This facility is extremely popular, both with the locals and tourists. The whales are very intelligent, seem to recognize certain people, and respond to spoken words.
But there is a dark side to this place. In one of the anterooms a blind man tells tales. If you describe a whale to him, he'll nod, think a moment, and then tell you what this whale's life was like...when it was a person. The tourists think it's great fun that this poor blind man has this job making up stories. The natives are angry and want him to stop telling their stories to strangers.
These whales really DID used to be people. It's kind of like the whole Deep Ones thing (HP Lovecraft, Shadow over Innsmouth). You're born looking human, and at some point in your life you begin to change, to yearn for the open water...A group of local people own a yacht, collectively. The only impressive thing about the yacht is that it has a moon pool--an opening directly from the boat into the sea. Every year, a different group of locals takes that yacht out and never returns. By the end of the summer, its found floating, deserted. Sometimes there are journals or letters left behind, explaining that so-and-so commited suicide or Mrs. Whozawhatis fell overboard and drowned. The police do not investigate these deaths. Near the town is a salt marsh. At high tide it's about 4 feet deep, uncomfortable for both humans and small whales. But occassionally both can be seen there...or heard, more accurately, as the whales here are not friendly and neither are the people. Every year a few tourists somehow manage to drown in that same salt marsh and get washed out to sea, their bodies never found.