Hallucinations, a surprise dolphin visit: Procope recounts epic swim from Tobago to Trinidad

If at first you don't succeed, try, and try again.

A journey and dream he had envisaged for roughly 20 years, Tobago-based open-water swimmer John Procope, 48, achieved the most epic of feats on October 3, when he completed the gruelling swim from Tobago to Trinidad, arriving in Sans Souci, Toco around 10pm.

Approximately 24 hours after leaving the Coast Guard jetty in Scarborough, Tobago around 9.40 pm on October 2, and backed by a six-member crew, Procope completed the marathon swim he had previously attempted in 2022 and 2023, and originally planned to try for a third time three months ago.

In a July 5 interview with Newsday, Procope said he drew inspiration from the numerous attempts made by Raymond La Croix, as well the 18th-century legend of an enslaved man, known only as Sandy, who led a major rebellion and whose eventual escape saw him making the Tobago-Trinidad journey via the ocean. It's unclear if Sandy swam the entire journey, but Procope said La Croix had previously achieved the feat in the 1990s. For Procope, though, he wanted to be the first man to make the 22-mile journey without the aid of floatation devices.

Procope was unable to reach the shore in Toco owing to choppy waters, but this was no slight on a legendary achievement,

Boat operator David McLean, aka Predator, was buzzing on a Facebook live stream in Toco.

"Yeah, we finally, reach," he said, "The beach right dey. It's rough and we can't get on the shoreline, but we're there. All of us are here."

Panning the camera to the shore, he said, "I don't know if allyuh could see. Nah, they can't see. Look houses right there."

Speaking to Newsday around midday on October 4, Procope said he was exhausted and his mouth blistered from being in open water for 24 hours.

He said, "I wasn't allowed to touch the boat as that would have disqualified me from the effort...that classifies my effort as something different from what Raymond La Croix did. Although he made it, he was wearing fins. He's in a different category."

Just past 5 pm on October 3, Procope still had 4.5 miles left. An hour later, as he fought off cramps and self-doubt, 3.5 miles separated him from a feat he had visualised after moving from Trinidad to Tobago in 1996.

Even as he told the two-boat Predator crew to leave him in the water "unless it was a legitimate emergency," Procope had a moment of "panic" when he saw "this massive grey thing which is just about my size or a little bigger" approach him in the water.

After being startled, Procope was relieved when he realised it was an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin next to him. In this moment, Procope found back the zeal, joy and passion which saw him cautiously getting into the Scarborough waters in the first place.

"I'd say the last part of the swim was quite an adventure where everything seemed like it could potentially crumble to nothing," he said, reflecting on the doubt which crept in even as he made his way through the sometimes choppy waters with his relaxed freestyle technique.

With his body going towards Sans Souci, but his mind slowly drifting off course, Procope said this dolphin encounter was the shot in the arm he needed.

"The water off of Sans Souci at this time of year is very murky. It's almost like swimming in mauby, because of the Orinoco River and all of that. It was very spooky," he said.

"Then when I realised right away – because of how it was moving and everything – that it was just a dolphin, I said this was wonderful. I started having fun again, after being in the water for 22 hours or whatever...it's amazing what the mind can do. I was almost completely spent. I was literally trying to fight off cramps for the previous five hours."

Procope said the presence of the dolphin eased his mind that he wouldn't have sharks for company on his journey as well. Despite being a scuba-diver and instructor by trade, Procope said, "It's difficult not to get nervous and not let your imagination run away with you when you're in murky water and you're kinda like hitting the pieces of debris."

At the end of years of planning, swimming, training and the learning which came from his previous inter-island quests, Procope was full of praise for his support crew, including captains David McLean and Kester Thomas, David's son Michael and Dagmar Buhck.

"Thank goodness, (the crew) followed my instructions to a T because there were a couple of times I thought this wasn't working and I couldn't take it any more and I was really ready to give up and get out," Procope said.

He said they helped keep him motivated, hydrated and ensured he rested at 30-40 minute intervals.

"I can't really take credit for any of it on my own. I have to give credit to the entire team of professionals who are far more experienced than myself and more specialised in their areas of expertise than I am."

In September 2022, a quartet of Procope, William Carr, Patrick Lee Loy and Roger Watts covered a 60km distance from Rocky Bay in an attempt which was influenced by the tail end of Hurricane Fiona. Last year, Procope was at it again, this time being accompanied by support-swimmer Carr in a swim from Fort Granby which spanned 11 hours.

On both occasions, Procope's efforts were thwarted by the force of nature, and he was caught in the current flow of the Orinoco River in his previous try.

And despite the TT Meteorological Service's hazardous seas alert from October 3-7, Procope and his team felt the time was now.

"I was aware of the (rough-seas bulletin). I thought to myself, I can get the slack currents, but I can't get the calm seas with the slack currents and that's fine. If I had calm seas but hard currents, I would have got nowhere near making it," he said, highlighting the importance of working hand-in-hand with nature.

"It's much easier to make progress when you have the currents that are not pushing you back towards Tobago. I heard the report, but our intelligence was a bit more specific to the nature of the task."

He said there are only a handful of days in the year where the conditions are just right to complete such a challenging swim.

Procope said their journey back to Tobago also had its surprises as he began hallucinating.

"I saw a forest of trees in the ocean," he said.

"I thought to myself it must be that I'm seeing things because of the amount of time I've been awake and the amount of stress and strain I put my body under. All I can tell you is that I'm feeling fit and fine now. Apart from maybe not being able to eat anything for the next couple of days, I'm feeling as good as gold."