We woke today to sunshine, in contradiction to the prediction of rain the forecasts led us to expect. The marina was full of soft sounds: the resident large parrot outside the Captain’s lounge whistled and sang in a low mournful tone. Grackles, doves, and starlings made their usual racket and mess. The pelicans don’t seem to have a voice but make plenty of noise splashing after fish in the wake of the multiple surfacing dolphins. A paddleboarder came by with two dogs onboard with him, one little, and one big.  All was well until two dolphins surfaced nearby.

When the paddleboarder made the mistake of pointing out the fins to his dogs, they leaped into the water after the “sea-doggies” and toppled their master into the water at the same time. It took the paddleboarder quite some time to convince his dogs to stop swim-chasing the dolphins and to haul the little one back on the paddleboard. The bigger dog insisted upon swimming to shore and led the way. The paddleboarder followed close behind with the little dog standing at the very front tip of the paddleboard whining and looking longingly at the swimming big dog.

Later we witnessed dolphin behaviour we had never seen before. A mother and small calf circled  the harbour repeatedly. Suddenly the mother would rocket forward, leaving the calf behind. She then surfaced explosively, driving a small school of fish before her and flipped one of the fish with her bottlenose at the calf, or sometimes, at interested pelicans who were paddling close to the pair. Apparently the birds anticipated this behavior, as they followed the pair around the harbor for the better part of an hour.

After coffee, we did some boat jobs while waiting to figure out what the weather would do. Tommy ran a more secure and protected power cord for our “Spot” device, which tracks our passage, sends our GPS signal to a satellite, and gives you all our location via the map on the blogsite. He also did more computer and chart research into the next few legs of our trip. Paula cleaned, assessed stores, communicated with friends, wrote a letter and took some pictures to possibly include on the blog post for today.

When we finally decided that no significant rain was likely, we walked to Sexton Beach Plaza, with the plan to eat lunch, sit on the beach, and perhaps explore the shops. At lunch, our plans were happily altered by a text from Tommy’s eldest sister Karen who was taking a scenic roadster trip with her husband John. They asked if we could stand visitors (Yes!).  We had a great time relaxing and catching up in the cockpit with them as we watched the dolphins. Then we walked to the beach, strolled for a while and had dinner together at the Wave Kitchen. Now John and Karen are tucked in the forward cabin where we hope they will be comfortable overnight. We are staying in Vero Beach Sunday as well, so we can have leisurely coffee and breakfast  in the morning.