Outer Banks, North Carolina

I am traveling on the Atlantic coast, interviewing women about how climate change/coastal erosion/the rise of the ocean is affecting their lives. 

Teresa, a water woman that I met on the Outer Banks, told me that when she swims far on the ocean, she is invited to be there somehow. She says that this visitation is a privilege. She lays on her back, on that black water, lets go of all that is not meant to be with her at that moment and allows herself to merge with a world without judgment. Soon, dolphins come. I say: they just come? Yes, she responds, they are almost always there with me. She is a long way away from the shore, her small body floating in that big ocean. She is at peace.

-Joanne Teasdale