Kayaking with the Dolphins

This morning it was back into the pool to continue to try to fight the battle of the bulge.  Then it was off to Placida to the Grande Tours Kayak Center.  John and Judy brought along their blow up kayaks for the paddle.  Tom and I rented kayaks from the center.   With a map in hand we headed out into the wilds.  And man what a ride!!!

 As we headed out into the harbor we came across all these pelicans hanging out taking in the sunshine.

 We turned around the corner and this channel was in front of us.  This was to lead us to the mangrove tunnels. We had a map that was supposed to lead us through the tunnels and then back out into the open water.

 A result of the red tide was alot of dead fish in the water.  The vultures where also hanging out on the roof of this house waiting for lunch or relaxing after gorging themselves on the carrion.  These birds are really large and they are everywhere  Hundreds of them circling in the air also.  Felt like a scene out of "The Birds"

 We have entered the mangrove tunnels.  These are channels that travel throughout the mangrove forest.  Some of the channels were very narrow and quite hard to paddle.  We kept catching the paddles in the trees and roots of the mangroves.  There were plenty of dead and smelly fish in there also.   But they were pretty cool to paddle through.

We pulled out of the tunnels into the open water again.  We stopped and had our lunch in the kayaks as we all floated together.

 After lunch we paddled along the shore for awhile then headed back into the mangroves.  When we exited the mangroves the second time we were close to a couple of small islands.

I looked towards one island and thought I saw dolphins.  Not sure if they were dolphins or one of the big birds that were all over the water.  I headed across the water with my companions coming behind at full speed.  There were at least 5 dolphins in the area.  Two must have been juveniles as they were speeding around, flipping and playing like crazy..  They were so very awesome.  I didn't get much of a picture.  I tried but they surfaced, blew and dived so quickly it was hard to get a good shot  I only managed to get one dorsal fin.

So I had to borrow a picture from the internet.  

 
They seemed to be playing with us.  They kept circling around where we were sitting.  This was incredible and made my holiday unforgettable.  As we headed back to the docks we saw all these herons sitting in the trees on this island.

We docked and headed home for another dip in the pool before dinner.  What an incredible day.  Can they get any better?  Can't see how.

Until next time - safe travels.