The Most Amazing Thing!

[PLFXpert 0]

Billy and I took our ocean kayak out this morning as the ocean water was perfect for it! Beautiful. Calm…or so we thought.

As soon as we were out a little ways I see fins—dolphin fins (it’s very easy to tell the difference b/w dolphin & shark fins for those who don't know). They were pretty far off in the distance. So we started off to enjoy a nice, relaxing paddle south along the shoreline. Then we spot a few more dolphin fins a little closer. Then more a little closer. Before we knew it there were at least five schools of 10 or more dolphins all around us WITH BABIES!!!

Some were obviously playing as they were staying in one spot and, not jumping but coming pretty far out of the water and then slapping their tails on the surface. SO funny! It was especially funny and incredibly cute to see the little tails splashing.

But the best part was one school that came (and stayed for a little while) not more than 20 feet from us! I could see their entire faces as they came up and it sounded like I was watching a swim meet and hearing the competitors gasp for air every few strokes.

There were dolphins everywhere! And as if that wasn’t enough—the rays! Oh my gosh we saw several rays with a wingspan of at least three to four feet from the tip of one fin to the other. One even jumped out of the water (I didn’t know they could do that!)! I wonder what he was jumping from. Ha! Heeeeere sharky, sharky, sharky.

Oh my gosh this morning just made my entire weekend! We just sat and watched (and thank GOODNESS for polarized Ray Bans. I love mine!!!)

For the landlovers, I tell you---for me nothing beats the beach lifestyle. I love that I can wear shorts & flops to a fine-dining restaurant. I love that we can take Cruz for early evening walks on the beach. I love that we can get up early and jog or ride bicycles along the shoreline when the tide is out and the sand is nice and firm. I love the breeze. I love the people. I love everything nautical. I love body-surfing the waves when it’s SO hot outside and the only way to stand the heat is to get in the water. Oh—and a must—I LOVE the smell of coconut sunblock!

I'm so happy after my dolphin-filled morning! They probably stuck around for about half an hour. We usually see a couple each time we take the kayak out, but nothing like this before! I WISH we had brought the camera. I wasn't expecting much action and boy was I mistaken. Unbelieveable!

I'm SO happy right now. I just LOVE ocean life.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[kbordson 8]

Thank you for sharing!!

[karenmeal 0]

Ooooh!

I am so jealous.

My boyfriend and I are talking about buying a tandem sea kayak in a couple months. We're moving up to Bellingham, WA and since my knee is still healing we want a nice outdoors activity that we can both enjoy.

Any gear tips?

"Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

[PLFXpert 0]

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Any gear tips?

Well, I thought I was a "kayaker" until someone started a thread about rolling.

I've white water rafted several times but never in a kayak. We kayak mostly in the intracoastal and ocean. There's really nothing to it.

We bought our kayak w/ everything included except the wheely-cart at Costco for an even $400. GREAT deal!

My only tips would be to make sure the kayak is suited for what you'll use it for most, and definitely get the wheely-cart.
Ours is a tandem sea kayak as well.

When we bought our house and moved away we missed it. I really enjoy us being in the same kayak--especially b/c I like to "relax" a little more than Billy and so being in the back he can paddle if he wants and still go where he wants w/out my help.

Oh, and by the way: WA is SO beautiful!

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[jtval 0]

I never knew you were an avid acid dropper.

you must've dropped acid if there are no pictures to prove it.

You were probably sitting in your bathtub and looking and the floaty toys weren't you?

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[PLFXpert 0]

No, only natural highs for me, hunny.

This includes alcohol! You know at the grocery store yesterday the clerk asked us "What's the occassion?".

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[PLFXpert 0]

P.S.

Be prepared if you're in the front of the tandem kayak and heading out in the ocean. YOU will be the one bearing the grunt of every wave, whether you go over it and SLAM down or seemingly go through it and get drenched. I wear a sunglass holder thingie (I dont' know what you call them officially) so I don't loose my shades.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[Royd 0]

I was going to take up kayak fishing before I discovered skydiving.

May still do it, someday. Time and money!

[Lindercles 0]

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. . . bearing the grunt. . .

Bearing the what, now?

[rickjump1 0]

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I was going to take up kayak fishing before I discovered skydiving.

May still do it, someday. Time and money!

Last night on the National Geographic channel, a young man kayaking off Australia had a great white circling him. When he cut his line to release what was left of his catch, he cut his leg. He did make it to shore only after the shark got very personal with him more than once. At one point the shark came up on the back of the kayak swamping it. What a story.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[PLFXpert 0]

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Last night on the National Geographic channel, a young man kayaking off Australia had a great white circling him. When he cut his line to release what was left of his catch, he cut his leg. He did make it to shore only after the shark got very personal with him more than once. At one point the shark came up on the back of the kayak swamping it. What a story.

You hear that, Bobbi??? And you said sharks couldn't smell blood on a kayak!

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[PLFXpert 0]

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I was going to take up kayak fishing before I discovered skydiving.

May still do it, someday. Time and money!

Billy likes to fish in ours. I will only do so in the intracoastal (see rickjump1's post below.). Call me paranoid but...I'd almost rather be on a surfboard than in a kayak when it comes to a shark. At least a surfboard is solid fiberglass and sharky no likey.

I'm on the East coast though so great whites are no worry. If attacked you're far more likely to simply loose a limb than your life.

I'm rather fond of my limbs though. They're nice. Pretty. I have four of them.

Money-wise, though, there's virtually no maintenance costs--just the initial investment. I mentioned before we bought ours w/ everything included (paddles, seats, etc) for $400 at Costco. Later we also purchased the wheely-cart for $200--money well spent. When the two of us first lifted the kayak we were all, "Wow. This is kind of heavy." Then after carrying it all the way down the trail to an intracoastal waterdrop we were all, "This thing sucks!" before we even dropped it in the water. You DEFINITELY want the wheely-cart.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[Royd 0]

I was going to take up kayak fishing before I discovered skydiving.

May still do it, someday. Time and money!

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Billy likes to fish in ours. I will only do so in the intracoastal (see rickjump1's post below.). Call me paranoid but...I'd almost rather be on a surfboard than in a kayak when it comes to a shark. At least a surfboard is solid fiberglass and sharky no likey.

I'm on the East coast though so great whites are no worry. If attacked you're far more likely to simply loose a limb than your life.

I'm rather fond of my limbs though. They're nice. Pretty. I have four of them.

Money-wise, though, there's virtually no maintenance costs--just the initial investment. I mentioned before we bought ours w/ everything included (paddles, seats, etc) for $400 at Costco. Later we also purchased the wheely-cart for $200--money well spent. When the two of us first lifted the kayak we were all "Wow. This is kind of heavy." Then after carrying it all the way down the trail to an intracoastal waterdrop we were all "This thing sucks!" before we even dropped it in the water. You DEFINITELY want the wheely-cart.

Well, I'm a gear whore, so outfitting a kayak with a fishfinder, gps, saftey equipment, and fishing tackle will run a couple thousand. I was looking at Ocean Kayak, which ran about a thousand.

I live near Jacksonville and love the backwaters and tidal creeks of the St. John's River.

I would still like to get offshore and get taken for a Nantucket sleigh ride. You know, the adrenaline thing. Conquer the unknown. Then I could use my GPS to get back.

[PLFXpert 0]

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Well, I'm a gear whore, so outfitting a kayak with a fishfinder, gps, saftey equipment, and fishing tackle will run a couple thousand. I was looking at Ocean Kayak, which ran about a thousand.

Yowza--Billy fitted ours with a pole-holder thingie. That's about it. I think fishfinders & gps' are cheating.

Seriously, I'm no expert but I seem to be when it comes to finding the best spots & times for certain fish--particularly reds in the intracoastal. I outfish Billy everytime on the red. It's all about finesse, baby.

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Then I could use my GPS to get back.

In a kayak, I never am so far out I can't see the shore. I don't think I want to be.

But, I hear you--it all does add up. But definitely check various overstocks or Costco for the actual kayak. For what we got, as far as I can tell based on the exact same thing retail in some local surf shops, we saved a LOT of money buying it all-in-one at Costco.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[PLFXpert 0]

P.S.

Our local news this morning featured a quick story on the "ray swarm" we had this past weekend--no mention of the dolphins, though.

Usually we will see a couple rays (always in pairs) surfing the waves but they're always smaller ones. These were all much larger and SO amazing swimming around our kayak.
I'm seriously on cloud 9 after yesterday's surreal dolphin experience.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[PLFXpert 0]

More dolphins today.

They came about 30 feet from us--not too close, but close enough and still very cool b/c we were just swimming about by ourselves (there are some really great secluded beach areas near where we live).

I LOVE the ocean.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[the_sea 0]

I'm not sure the best way to tell you this because I don't want to rain on your parade, but please be careful, especially with your little one. Adult dolphins slap their tails when they are upset and want to tell others to stay away. Especially protective moms with babies. They're 500 pound wild animals that play by biting each other. Bottlenose dolphins ("Flipper") have especially been shown to be aggressive, killing each other, other dolphin species, and even porpoises. Contrary to what those bastard swim-with-wild-dolphins tour operators would want you to believe, dolphins have been documented killing and seriously hurting people who have tried interacting with them in the wild. Which is half of the reason why it's illegal to approach a wild dolphin in the U.S. (You can read all of the government's reasons here: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/education/protectdolphins.htm ) It's kind of like assuming it's safe to play with a pack of wild dogs just because someone's domesticated dog is nice.


That being said, I'm so glad you had such positive experiences seeing dolphins! Especially the rare chance to see babies! I agree about how inspiring it is to see one out in the wild. They are such beautiful, fascinating creatures! I know I feel blessed everytime I see a wild one.

[PLFXpert 0]

I appreciate your response and completely agree, especially about the "swim with dolphins" tours. I'd never participate in such, nor would I ever visit Discovery Cove in Orlando.

Billy and I are of the "take only pictures, leave only footprints" or in this case "ripples in the water" when it comes to nature. When we noticed the first school & the babies (in my original post when we were kayaking), we stopped paddling and just floated and enjoyed. Then it became so surreal as we saw more and more schools. There had to be at least five or so schools of between six and 10 dolphins/school. The group closest to us were obviously not disturbed at all by our presence. They sort of lingered--not really swimming anywhere, coming up for air every so often--very peaceful.
The ones slapping their tails were not the ones very close to us in my original post. I'm aware of various dolphin behaviors (though obviously not an expert & can see by your profile you just might be) and that slapping tails can be a sign of males exhibiting their dominance to other males. Much is still unknown about all their behavior, though, and some scientists speculate some of the same behaviors seen in establishing dominance are also seen in play.

In my latter post, Cruz (our dog) was not out swimming with us--he's a fantastic swimmer but likes to stay shallow in the ocean--which is fine with me. But when we first got him he wouldn't step a single paw into the sand and would try to back away and run the other way, away from the ocean. Now he LOVES to play on the beach and run/swim into the surf after his ball.

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I know I feel blessed everytime I see a wild one.

We see them pretty often--usually just a pair in the distance. I feel the same way.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[the_sea 0]

Okay, I'm laughing at myself right now for mistaking a dog for a child! Awww, that's so wonderful that he was able to get over his fear and now loves to play in the surf!
*Nods* There is still a lot that isn't known about dolphins, yet. One of the most frustrating parts of my job is having to answer guests over and over again with "scientists just don't know the answer to that question yet."

There is no question in my mind, though, that they use a lot of the same behaviors during play as they do during dominance. I've seen it often enough. I've watched them push each other under the water, bite, and toss each other around, all during fun and courtship. We have to reassure people all the time that most of the bite marks on the dolphins are not a concern. In fact, play is probably the true reason behind a lot of injurious "attacks" on humans. I don't think I've seen any of our dolphins ever tail slap out of fun, but breaching for fun can look pretty similar.

One of our females who is notorious for being bitchy tail slaps all the time to show dominance. She's an extremely clingly mom, too, and won't let anyone (not even the dolphins she'll trust as midwives) near her babies. When her babies are really little, she does lots of tail slapping in an obvious aggressive way to put the other females and even her baby in their place. She is the queen, and nobody better tell the queen what to do.

Anyways, it was obvious from the beginning that you show a lot of respect towards dolphins. just gotten home from work when I wrote it.

And despite my job, I don't think I'd be right to call myself an "expert", either. I reserve that kind of title for someone with more experience, like Ken Norris or Mandy Rodriguez.

[PLFXpert 0]

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Okay, I'm laughing at myself right now for mistaking a dog for a child!

He's still my "little one" and is treated as such.

But don't think twice about your post! I'm really glad you mentioned it for those who might have been inspired to jump in and swim next time they see dolphins.

Living at the beach, it's hard not to accidentally find yourself amongst them. One drizzly, dreary day about four years ago the waves were actually quite large and rideable and "the boys" decided to go surfing. I declined, but sat on the beach in my anarak and watched. I kid you not, not long into their session there were dolphins surfing the waves with them!

And the most unbelievable encounter was one that, literally, jumped right over Billy's head while he was surfing! Billy hardly knew what happened until afterward and he paddled in and we both just had this look of amazement on our faces and we laughed and smiled about it. "Yup, I saw it, hunny."

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[PLFXpert 0]

Oh my gosh (again)!

Today was overcast & super-windy. The wind-direction, however, made for fairly flat waters vs. big-ass waves. We knew we'd drift forever down the beach but we didn't care. We have friends every quarter-mile for a few miles if we needed something.

We saw fins when we first put the kayak in the water, but only a couple and they were headed against the current.

We've had so many amazing kayak adventures, this time I bought a cheapo water-resistant camera...Ugh! The winding, the poor perspective, the sloooooooow sppeeeeeed. Today, dolphins came closer to us than ever before!
I'm saying--maybe five feet. I swear I could have reached out and touched one! We had been sitting still w/out our paddles in the water for a while. And we continued to do so when we saw them in the distance. We didn't want to disturb them. I was so surprised they came so close...

And though I tried, I didn't capture ONE shot.

That's it! I'm buying an underwater (or super water-resistant) digital-camera.

I've wanted one for a while. I've rented underwater cameras before...

Thank goodness for Billy! I was so bummed paddling in. Waiting. Then paddling in. Waiting. Then paddling in. Waiting...and finally paddling all the way in. And I was so bummed I did not get one shot. But, Billy reminded me how fucking awesome it was to see them so close.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[SuperGirl 0]

I think you don't need a water resistant camera, just a water-resistant case... see if there are any available for your current camera. I think a lot of them have it nowadays.

for instance, here's the first thing that google gave me:
http://www.waterproofcases.net/waterproof-camera-cases.html

[yamtx73 0]

This is one of the reasons I enjoy driving over to the Gulf in the morning... to watch the dolphins and occasional ray jumping...

The only naturals in this sport shit thru feathers...

[cocheese 0]

The thing about taking pictures is that you miss the present or only see it through a little lens. Then by looking back, you miss the chance to see the presnt again, which really messes up your future.

If i lived on a beach, i would have to quit working. Uncle Sam would hate that.

Maybe my parents will let me live with them this winter in Fla. If only they would give me their address.

Glad to see you are so enjoying life.

[jtval 0]

Well, I'll keep my replies in the same area...

so, um....FLASHBACKS from your acid trip , Car?


Sounds like a cool adventure. I miss the ocean like cer-azy but someday I'll see it again.

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