Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Dolphin Daze

This is the time of year when the bottlenose dolphins of Pure Florida have their babies in the quiet waters surrounding Cedar Key. As soon as we headed out under the little bridge that separates the Cedar Key boat basin from the Gulf, we had company.

Here's Mom and her baby following the boat.

That's just some seagrass on the flukes above. He's not tangled in anything.
As I mentioned yesterday, I took the boat out on the grass flats for a little solo fishing after I dropped off the crew. I had constant dolphin company while I tossed a line. The grass flats are shallow and loaded with life, so these dolphins were probably having better fishing luck than I was. My fishing window of opportunity coincided with dead low tide unfortunately, and as any fisherman or fisherwoman can tell you, that's absolutely the worst time to fish.
That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
The start of the rising tide ... the best time to fish ... was my signal to return (arrrghhh) so that my crew did not become flotsam as the Gulf reclaimed the sandbar they were inhabiting.

Meanwhile, back on the sandbar that we call our own, Mrs. FC seems to think it's Mother's Day.
Does she look cozy or what?
Posted by Picasa

15 comments:

robin andrea said...

I don't know how I missed yesterday's pelican post. What a great number of birds you had there in that tree. Now this-- dolphins. I'd say you are leading a rather charmed life, and from the looks of it, so is Mrs FC. Nice, really nice.

Anonymous said...

you cast various loved ones off on sandbars? beautiful views, but i suspect a bit of pirate in you.

Anonymous said...

Mrs FC looks like she's auditioning for one of those Mexican beer commercials. You know the ones shot on beaches so idyllic they couldn't possibly be real?

Leslie said...

Mrs. FC really knows how to live! That woman has it together.

ImagineMel said...

awwwww...she sure does! I wanna go read by the water!!!! God love her, she deserves it! :)

Anonymous said...

That looks like a comfy chair. Chairs in the water. Now there's an idea I should try!

Juli said...

Very nice. We saw a number of dolphin Sunday evening while sailing on a schooner out of St. Augustine. I never get bored with seeing them in the local waters!

Unknown said...

Cool! There's just something about dolphins. They're a lot more fun to watch than gators.

Unknown said...

Is Mrs. Cracker reading from your reading list? I see you have two of my favorite Florida books -- "A Land Remembered" and "The Barefoot Mailman." I have a very early, if not first, edition of "The Barefoot Mailman." May I also suggest "Classic Cracker" by Ronald W. Haase and "Last Train to Paradise" about the '35 hurricane and Flagler's railroad.

Rurality said...

What's she reading, and does she recommend it? :)

I *had* to try making up my own version of mojo last night. Oh what a disaster. The horror!

Today I broke down and bought mojo marinade at Publix. Couldn't help myself.

R.Powers said...

Robin,
Glad you liked those birds! It was a scene out of time.
As for a charmed life... I'm often told, "I wish I had time to do some of those things you do.", and my response is "Everyone has the same 24 hours each day, we all choose how we will spend them."

Kathy A,
A bit of the pirate maybe, but I had to go back for them, they had the treasure chest ... an ice chest with fried chicken.

Mark,
Hey, you're right! We'd better check that cup of hers.

Leslie,
She works really hard (2 jobs) and needs these recharge days. Saltwater does wonders for her attitude and well being.

Mel,
She does just for putting up with me! I think she was reading a Nora Roberts book.

Pablo,
Comfy chairs in the shallows of Lake M., I can see you now in a semiaquatic post lunch stupor.


Juli,
Schooner sailing ... cool!!
It's always nice to have a dolphin escort.

Harry,
Is there hidden meaning there FSUlawyer? :)
I agree though.
I noticed the ditto on your reading list too. Those 2 book suggestions sound interesting.

R.Powers said...

Rurality,
I think it was a trilogy by Nora Roberts... but I'm not sure. The only thing we read in common are Dean Koontz, Matthew Reilly,Dan Brown type stuff. I don't read her girly mysteries and she doesn't read my "ex-seal tough guy techno thrillers"

She's out with the girls at a play in Gainesville tonight, so I still haven't cornered her for Mojo details.

I like the bottled stuff too.
You have Publix in Alabama? They must be conquering the whole southeast.

Alan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alan said...

I had constant dolphin company while I tossed a line

Nothing like some large predators swimming around to improve the fishing...

.....Alan.

R.Powers said...

Alan,
Very true ... add that to my low tide excuse.
:)