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Wondery.
September 28, 1990.
It's a fine day in Amble, a coastal town on the tip of Northeast England.
But we're not in the town.
We're about a quarter of a mile out in the North Sea.
A man's in the water, wearing a wetsuit with yellow arms.
And he's just hanging there alone.
His name is Alan Cooper, and at first, yes, he is all alone.
But then something dark moves at speed under the water.
Circles, disappears, and then resurfaces.
Now we can see him.
It's a wild dolphin, a bottlenose, and he wants to play.
He twists onto his side, inviting Alan to take hold of his dorsal fin.
He will start to dive.
Just go straight down for about 20ft and then come swiftly back up and you'd both explode out the water.
It was just out of this world, you know, I was in the time of my life, just something special.
I swam 10 hours.
I think it was one day.