Dolphins

I have been on a mission to get some pictures of white pelicans for 2 1/2 months. The pelicans hang out along the shores of the intracoastal waterway (ICW) where they can barely be seen from shore or on the northern half of Guana Lake. These locations require water access to get good views of the pelicans. Every time I have attempted to kayak the ICW to see them, it has been too windy. Most of the winter, the northern part of Guana Lake is closed for hunting. The lake reopened several weeks ago. Regis went to the six mile landing boat launch on Guana Lake the other day and was fortunate to see the pelicans near the shore. He posted a blog. I went the next day with the kayak and I saw no pelicans and the water was too shallow to launch. The pelicans will leave any day to migrate north and I was running out of time this year.

Today, the weather was beautiful with no wind. Regis joined me on a kayak trip on the ICW and we got lucky. There were some pelicans hanging out in their usual spot and I was able to paddle close enough to get pictures without disturbing them.

After getting pelican images, I went chasing after some cormorants and Regis found some frolicking dolphins. I am sorry I missed the dolphins. We often see them, but I have not seen the behavior Regis captured today. I suspect they were playing or doing something more adult oriented. There were four of them and they were leaping out of the water and touching each other.

The water was so calm as to be unbelievable after all my prior windy adventures in the same location. As a result, I was able to achieve another goal. I have been trying to get a picture of a single feather floating and reflected on the water. I was almost successful in Alaska in 2019 and have been trying ever since in Florida. The water is not calm enough, there are no feathers or there is too much debris in the water. I only saw this one feather, so this was my chance to make it work.