Monday, January 14, 2013

This was Alyson’s last full day in Florida and what amarvelous day it was! I am almost lost for words to describe our experience.

She chose to take a boat tour to look for dolphins and manatees.

 

The boat she selected  accommodates 22 people, but due to ascheduling error there were only 6 of us and Captain Dwight aboard. It was likeour own private tour and we felt like that was a blessing.

As with other guides we have toured with here, CaptainDwight was very knowledgeable and we received a lot of information. Don’t knowhow much of it Cordell and I will retain though!

As our boat motored out of Ft. Meyers Beach into EsteroBay, the Captain told us all to keep watch for dolphins and manatees. We hadalready seen dolphins as we crossed the bridge in our car. However, manateesare not as easily spotted because we would see only their noses sticking out ofthe water periodically from a distance.

Finally, a manatee was sighted and Captain Dwight wasable to maneuver the boat very close to it and eventually it was right besideus! Then we could see more of its body.

We continued motoring on and eventually a pod of dolphinswas spotted. I never knew that dolphins like to play in the wake of boats. TheCaptain moved us closer and when he revved up the engine, the dolphins did, infact, swim into our wake and followed us for a long time. It was awesome towatch them jumping out of the water. I was amazed at how long they did itbefore they left us.

As we were making our way back to the dock, we sawmanatees again and stopped for more photos. Then we ran near another pod ofdolphins and they wanted to play, too. This time, there was a baby with the podand it was so very, very cute. It seemed that none of us wanted to stop playing—thepeople or the dolphins, but our tour had already run over the scheduled timeand Captain Dwight needed to get back and eat lunch so he would be ready forhis next group.

Alyson shared with the Captain that this experience hadfulfilled one of her life long dreams—to be in a boat with dolphins swimming alongside.We realized that this was another blessing when he explained that this ride wasexceptional for all of the wildlife that we had seen during our time.

After we left the marina, we stopped for ice cream and aswe were eating, we consulted our GPS and realized that there were 2 geocacheswithin walking distance. None of us could resist looking for them. One of themtook us into some bushes and trees on Ft. Myers Beach. We felt like we wereexploring our own private island.

On our drive back to the condo, we found 3 morecaches! We finally got stumped by one that most likely is missing—or as Cordellprefers to say “does not exist”. It was supposed to be in a parking lot at asmall shopping center. However, we did find a Chinese restaurant there so weordered take out and brought it back to the condo.

We enjoyed eating andwatching the videos we made of those delightful dolphins.