I couldn't take it...

The voices.  No, not The Voice, the singing competition on NBC.  I'm talking about the voices in my head... "Jim!  Jim!  It's us - the dolphins.  We see you're back!  Come out - we're close by!  We miss you!"

I said, "I miss you, too..." and then realized I was talking to the voices in my head.  Out loud.  Joan was engrossed in some paperwork, so she probably thought I was talking to Rufus.  Yeah, I do that a lot, too.  He and I communicate pretty well.  Digressing.

I said to Joan, "I know it is getting late, but would you like to go out on the boat for an hour or so?"

"No, I'm in the middle of this.  You go.  I can push you off..."

"OK.  I can handle the lines.  See you in an hour or so."

I couldn't believe that the damn dredge had moved... right to the far end of our canal...

That is not a good sign.

It was a warm evening - you can see the water temp in the canal...

Yeah, 87.1º... not much chance for things to cool down when the water is still that warm.  Turning into the canal to head out, the light wind was behind me, meaning: the air felt still.  And hot.  "Are you dolphins still there?" my mind called out.

"Yes, we are - and we're close!"

There was a great blue heron in the canal, but his shadow was actually a more interesting composition than him standing by the sea wall...

Out the canal; as I turned right in the ICW, I could see the fins in the distance.  Yep, they are close.  As the crow flies, about a mile from our house; in the canals and the ICW, about twice that.  I had grabbed a camera that I haven't used in a while, and didn't bring the eye-level viewfinder.  Not making excuses, just saying this isn't the best photographic tool for dolphin photos.  But...

I found it interesting how the water changed colors depending on whether I was into the light or had it behind me.  The light was getting low...

That is one of the pipeline ships that services the drilling rigs in the Gulf.  No other commercial vessels in the turning basin.  In fact, no other small boats around, either... there were about 15-20 dolphins here, and I could enjoy them with no other boats running them off.

I spent more time just taking it all in than taking photos.  They were on three sides of the boat...

Dolphin and a pelican in the distance...

A Homeland Security boat ran by, but far enough away that they didn't disturb the dolphins...

I had the boat in neutral or just into idle most of the time, making small turns to position the viewing.

The pink bottomside really lights up in the last light of the day...

I have no idea what was going on in that shot above, but there was some ruckus.

The sun just above the horizon...

Nice to get a little tail...

I had them to myself for almost an hour, keeping my distance unless they approached my boat.  Just before I was going to head in, I was joined by one of the excursion boats.  And then another.  I heard on the radio that one of them had seen dolphins earlier, so they were mostly doing a slow pass as they completed their sunset trip...

That is Double Sunshine ahead and to the right in the photo above.  Look close: there is a dolphin off their stern on the starboard side.

I turned Cool Change towards our canals; looking back...

I was sorry Joan was busy, but hope we get to see these wonderful mammals next time we're out together.  It was a great (and warm) evening.