Dolphins

Ah man, I have these dark moments. Usually when I'm going to sleep, my mind races from point A to B to C then parks on Bernie's last day or days--then I quickly move my mind from that, though the damage has already been done. It's messed up and also suprising how impactful thinking about something for 3.9 seconds at night can be. Have a great day, get blindsided when it's over by wondering if you are evil. But 99.9% of the time everything is okay.

So yes, I kayaked and paddled into the channel, as I said fisherman on my right, pelicans on my left. Almost immediately, I saw a couple dolphins up ahead. I was excited. Then they kept appearing. I was really excited, and pulled my kayak over to the side--there's a short wall on each side of the channel. It was an interesting morning aesthetically, serene to the point of near-creepy, though the fact it was sunny lessened the weirdness factor. The vibe I was feeling suggested that it should have been cloudy, foggy, frightening. As it was, dolphins kept appearing in front of me, all the way to the bay. I paddled quietly, slowly. They were everywhere. Several were play fighting, many humped their backs out and back into the water, blowing air as they ascended, swimming alone, swimming in a school of six at one point--backs arching in perfect synchronicity. Others jumped out of the water in the manner that dolphins jump out of the water--if only I'd had a Hula-Hoop. Eventually, I tied up to a marker in the channel and just sat in my kayak, watching. I'd look one way at a dolphin, and I'd hear another behind me. They were right there, feet from me, close enough to see their body markings and battle scars--one had a broken fin, though it seemed of no bother. I untied, just floating, watching and listening. At one point, I turned my head, having been paying little attention to where I was floating, and there was a pelican about four feet from my face, sitting on the opposite wall of the channel. Neither of us flinched. At another point, a pelican basically flopped the couple feet between the wall and water, plucked a fish (about the size of a fish a person would eat) from the water, parked it in it's big ol' "pouch," and flew away to dine. In all, I must have enjoyed over 100 dolphin sightings from a dozen or two dolphins over the course of an hour. Then, stupid man started plowing through the channel with their boats--including a Coast Guard vessel--and I decided to paddle home, leaving my buddies behind.

I love animals.