He couldn't go too far. And fortunately he didn't have to. The surf let him approach the beaches and his metabolism did the rest.
But first, he'd search the sand for the right one. They'd have to be a certain type and in a certain mood.
Some would stand on the sand while others sat on rocks staring out to sea. If they stayed there for a long time, he could sense their needs and mood. Melancholy was key. If there were groups, he couldn't approach but riding the surf he could wait until the right one walked away seeking solitude.
He didn't worry about being seen, his upper torso wasn't any different from those that might see him. His bare chest rode above the water line as he moved about.
With practice and teaching from his mother, he learned to submerge before he swam so the telltale evidence of his existence wasn't seen.
But as he aged, his body demanded more and more from him. He'd wait for hours until the right one would wander, stepping awkwardly on nearby rocks until he was isolated.
Little coves harbored such that sought such isolation. Some would wade; others would strip off their shorts and lay in the sand. Others would just sit and bathe in the sun and their isolated moments of reflection.
He could sense which ones would be receptive. And slowly, silently he would approach waiting until their attention was elsewhere so he could transform.
Transformation required the sun baking the water away and something inside him demanding the change.
Walking silently, his feet not able to leave impressions in the sand, he'd approach quietly acknowledging the presence of the one he had focused on.
Each time was different, but as he practiced, his judgment improved. They would block the sun from their eyes and look up, not surprised to see his naked body.
There would be quiet exchange. He could sense which ones wanted more or less words.
His interest was unavoidable. That part of his body extended as soon as he had finished the transformation.
They didn't react, though their eyes examined him. The water kept him trim, developed and impressively formed.
They liked that he knew. But he didn't care if they were similar or totally different. What he sought, what he sensed was the energy, the mood, the emotions that defined each one. The touch was important. He could feel their electricity, pulse and reaction even with one finger.
He liked petting them and could hear their animalistic response much like a cat purring. It was a quiet vibration that moved through him warming parts that had not warmed during transformation.
Some chatted others didn't. He found something inside each that told him where to move, how to engage, what they needed even when their minds didn't reflect experience it.
He'd sit behind them, his newfound legs spread to hug their legs. And their bodies his own lightly moved against.
Their interest arose as his had before. He delighted feeling their blood pulsing in each appendage.
His lips would touch their necks, ears, shoulders at first, eventually and their own lips. His tongue longer then most would explore their tongues.
They would turn to face him, glad to fulfill the need and drive that he knew was there. Some hadn't any experience with another like them; others had thought but never acted while still others had, like him, exchanged needs with another same gender type.
He had time, though the sun would eventually demand he refresh himself. That was the benefits of the surf nearby.
Sometimes the satisfaction would be achieved when he dashed into the water that would change him and renew his life. If the other remained or joined him, he'd keep under the water less his real form be discovered.
He had time. Eventually he may find the right one, the one that would and could join him in the water transformed by their connection and whatever magic would make it happen.
There had been attempts by some, the few that discovered his true form and wanted to be like him. It had failed with some tragic results. It had saddened him sending him into the deep ocean for unmeasured time.
But eventually, his body's needs demanded the swim back near the coasts. His mother said much time had passed for those on the shore, the ones that walked. And so they would not know of their kind.
The passionate experiences let him feel with his transformed body...each time felt new as the nerve endings in his acquired skin touched those of the ones he met.
Wanting as much of that exchange he was in no hurry to end it, even when the one on the beach seemed to. Hands enveloped, fingers entered, tongues slid and eventually the long penis would enter mouth or body.
He knew dolphins with longer ones then he, but the humans he found on the beach seemed to enjoy his.
He learned that each responded differently, their cries, words and movements were educational each time.
And the times they mounted him were more awkward but he took it, feeling them with muscles that had less experience but relished the sensations with each insertion and withdrawal.
When their bodies released their fluids, he knew their time had ended, some would recover and want to resume, while others seemed totally exhausted as he was after long swims that took him to other beaches and rocks.
He had to refresh each time even when the humans revealed they wanted to continue. Fortunately refreshing didn't take long and the water play with the human was fun too, though he had to be careful not to let them feel or see his underwater self.
"You're a fucking fish?" the words hurt him inside. There was not just discovery but disapproval in the human's soul. When he heard that, he knew it was time to let the sun transform him again, even if only to reveal himself as human again before leaving quickly, so they would assume the sun or substance they may have consumed earlier clouded their minds.
"God you're beautiful" the words would be fumbled, the human stumbling to express what he didn't know how. Their hands would touch him underwater, moving from his still extended penis to his scales.
He could engage them that way in the water and did sometimes. His penis sliding inside, his arms holding them so their heads were above the water line, his tail taking over their need to wade. The sex would take longer due to the cooling water, but no human complained giving themselves to his strength and need to release inside them.
There were times he let them watch the transformation back to his human like form. The sexual exchange afterwards sometimes became more passionate if not more animal like.
Swimming away was always painful even with those who hadn't expressed approval. His shoulders and head above water, long distance from the beach, he watched them still sitting or standing looking towards where he waded.
With those who knew his true form, he would imitate Dolphins rising in the water so when he dove his fins would flick in the air briefly.
But for those who would only remember the naked stranger who sexually satisfied them, he would duck under the water and swim away from the experience and unsatisfied emotional desire he had.
Someday it would be different. There would be the right one who would suffer at first and then respond to the underwater morphemic they could endure and the two would flick their talented lower bodies to push them deeper and further to share the world that he had lived in, finally fulfilled and never needing to surface and transform again.