Whoa – Wow!!!

I thought I’d almost hit a huge log – there are a lot of them in various places of the ICW.  And this one was about 5 feet away from where I was standing to steer the boat.  Within inches of the boat – too close for comfort and it was huge.  “Whoa…”  I started to yell.  But it instantly changed to “Wow” when the big, wet “log” suddenly sprouted a fin and blow hole.  It was a dolphin – right beside the boat – right beside me.

We’ve seen a lot of dolphins in the Charleston harbor area and all the way to Beaufort, SC.  Sometimes they come over to check out the boat, but mostly they like to feed and play in the shallows, in twos and threes.

In the Bull River, they leapt out of the water, seeming to broach like whales, and sometimes dove to show their flukes, sticking straight up.

But usually they are a quick flash of fin.  Or just a watery “phumpf” from their blowholes.

Dolphins always spice up a day.  They bring smiles and excitement.  We spring into action, pointing and yelling and  running from one side of the boat to the other to get a better view.  And always trying to get a picture, although I’ve just about given that up.  They are apparently not exhibitionists and prefer to show their friendliness briefly and quietly.