Dolphin Research Center

For those of you that love dolphins, you must come spend a day at the DRC.  Even if you choose to not have one of the 'up close and personal encounters' it is interesting to simply observe. There is so much to see :)  Everyone who is watching is smiling, and I swear, the dolphins look as if they're smiling, too. If you come down this way I can get four of us in for free on my membership (hint, hint!)  I never tire of going to this place...

So today, I took Biddi, her sister-in-law Cindy, and her
friend, Karen, who are visiting from Louisville, KY.

I think they enjoyed themselves...the only down side to the day was there was a ENE wind cranking 20-30 mph.  At times, it felt like it was blowing a gale.  There were very threatening skies several times today, but the weather remained offshore.  We enjoyed lunch at The Wreck afterwards, and then some shopping time.  I left the girls for a time to go to Walgreens to work on getting some more supplies for our ditch bag.  A 'ditch bag' is a necessity if you are doing any offshore cruising.  You need to have a grab bag/go bag/ditch bag in the event you have to abandon ship in an emergency.   There are several sources on the internet that suggest the necessities of a ditch bag.  Karie shared with me their list, after compiling a number of other sources' suggestions.  No sense in re-inventing the wheel, I say, since she already did the leg work.  I'll share with you more about the ditch bag when I have it all complete, which should be later this week.  Oh, I also ordered our Bahamas Cruising Guide today. 
While we girls were busy playing, Cap'n was busy with boat projects.  There is a never-ending list to boat projects!  Boats need maintenance and TLC like a home- even more so, really, because of the harsh UV rays, wind, extreme heat in the summers, and salty air/salt water.  Today it was attacking some broken items...missing screws here and there, replacing the hinges on the Vberth hatch, installing a latch on the door to the head (no more line tied in a bow to hold the door open :), etc.  If he's feeling really ambitious tomorrow (and if he gets blown out from fishing with Kenny again) he plans to tear into the AC.  That's going to be a big mess, I have no doubt, especially if he decides to replace all of the hoses (which I think might need done).  We'll see...while I'd like to hope there is a simple fix, it never seems to turn out that way.  If you think a job will take an hour, it will be at least two.  Because we are in a resort area, with people walking the docks and wanting to visit (or Danny's hollering at Donnie for a cold drink!), then that one hour job could be more like four hours.  THAT is what they call 'island time' down here in the Keys!   While we would prefer to put it off until later, we have lots of visitors coming in Feb/March, and we need to be earnest in preparing for our first crossing the beginning of April.  For now, enjoy the dolphin pics!

Aren't they smiling?!

How cute is that?!  Looks like fun to me :)

These three are all smiles, too :)

I snapped at least 20 pics of dolphins splashes, but I almost caught
this one in mid-air.

Awesome action shot!

I wish I knew these boys and girls all by name...

I'd give them a 9.0

Showing some tail here- their tails are like our fingerprints-
each one is unique.

SPLASH FIGHT!!!

Calusa was not wanting to place nice with the others,
she was off doing her own thing.  For the last week,
she's been swimming and playing with a broken
hula hoop. The trainer put her in time out!

HOT LAP!

And the day would not be complete without an encounter
with the sea lions, parrots, maccaws, peacocks,
and here's one of the free range hens with her chick...

...and my personal favorite, the roosters.
(NOT! I strongly dislike roosters.)
See you all tomorrow,  G'nite.