The first time we saw dolphins from right here in our slip Deborah and I were very excited. Now, they seem to be here every time we come, but not like they were today. Today, a pair came into the marina (which is a dead end), went all the way to the end, came back half way, had some fun, they made their way out.
We filmed this a few weeks ago but I just now got the chance to upload the video to youtube.
Dolphins Playing (or Mating) in the Marina
It was so exciting to get to see them so close, and from right here in our slip. The dolphin boats here in the marina are always full (it seems) and I am sure they all have a great time, but we get to see them without having to go anywhere, what a treat.
Not only did they come in where we could see them, we ended up getting some great (to me) video and photos too.
You can see from the video that they came all the way up into the small marina cove here. They are really neat animals to see in the wild and not in some trained setting. When they get into a feeding frenzy it is really quite something to see as well.
Some days a cold day on the beach is better than a warm day inside. The beaches, in most parts of the country right now, are completely empty, but put a nice cool breeze and January into the mix and you get this (see beach image below). Not only is there a rare February thunderstorm in the distance but the only visible moving object on the beach is a tiny little bird in the very center of the image.
The sunsets at the marina are always so dynamic and each one is different. The thunderstorms here made just enough of a hole in the sky to give us a great sunset today.
This image was actually taken by my cell phone. I am really amazed at the quality of images that can be taken by a cell phone these days. Not that it is worthy of publication but for just sticking a phone up in the air, its not bad.
This weekend we did spend the day on the beach (see all the photos below) but we came down to be on Laughalot. We did enjoy the peace and quiet that the marina always has around this time of year, and of course on the beaches too.
Now that the cold weather is here this is what you do, sit and knit. It is now to cold to sit outside in the cockpit for any extended period of time but we can still come down for the weekend and enjoy being here. Here is DK sitting under a bunch of blankets knitting on the boat. Surprised she doesn’t have on her mittens and ear muffs but we did get the heater working this summer, thank goodness.
There will be warmer days but we still had a nice weekend down on the boat. Once again we were treated to wonderful sunsets, right off the transom but it was a little to cold to go outside and do much. What I should be doing right now is getting a list of all the things I want to do on the boat when it gets warmer but who can get motivated in this cold.
We did take several trips over to the beach where I could do some much needed walking and DK could knit, in the shelter of our tent. Photos of that will be coming soon.
Christmas time at a marina is really pretty. All the boats get all dressed up and at night they light up the sky with Christmas lights. Sailboats with masts rising 40 feet above the water line is really a site to see. I can’t imagine how it looks up north where it is so cold there is probably not a sole that wants to step outside, but down here in the Gulf Coast, it is at least bearable (for us that is mid-60’s).
Being that I have been a photographer for more than 10 years now I have a hard time adjusting to taking images without a tripod, especially AT NIGHT. But, a tripod does little use on a sailboat that is constantly in motion, so this is the best I could do with hand holding, lights, at night. It was a wonderful site at night.
We were able to come down for the weekend but not much else. When we got here we discovered that this was the time for the annual shrimp festival so we figured we might as well check it out while we were down here. We didn’t get much work done on the boat but we did see several beautiful sunsets while we were here this time.
This photo was taken on our boat from the slip just as the sun set over the gulf. It is amazing we can still be out here in relatively warm weather in mid-October but we will take it.
