A change...

Joan has been nursing a crappy ol' cold for the past 10 days or so.  She is getting better.  Guess who is now feeling like crap?

We had some running to do this morning.  One of the stops was at our local county office... we ordered "specialized" license plates.  Not personalized - these plates allow you to support something within the state; could be a branch of the military, a state university, or...

When we got back from our errands, I put those plates on the car while Joan did some paperwork.  The agenda: a boat ride.  There are some dolphins that need to be watched.  We saw some from the swing bridge as we headed off the island earlier.  I got the cover off and the boat prepped while Joan put together a picnic lunch for us.

And, we're off.  A lovely day, temps getting into the low 70s with a light breeze; lots of sunshine.  Coming out of the canal, a shrimper was heading towards the ship channel...

We were barely out of the canal when we saw the first dolphins...

Whoa!  That was close...

OK, way close...

We have it in the back of our minds that we'd like to see some dolphins, but with the norther that blew through for the weekend, we were just happy to get out on the boat.  The dolphins were a big ol' bonus; and, so nearby...

Fun to see the tail when they dive.  Or, half the tail...

Or, some belly...

And groups...

Yep, they're coming right for us...

And, a pretty face...

Some "line dancing"...

For an hour or so, we had them all to ourselves...

You can see by the track, that we didn't go far, as they moved back and forth...

All kinds of great behavior, including a couple full jumps out of the water.  No, I didn't get photos of that, even though Joan did drive for a while, allowing me to shoot.  Some close by porpoising...

One of the dolphin watch excursion boats came by, so we gave them space and enjoyed our lunch while watching the dolphins from afar...

Joan was using the cute mug I picked up for her...

Yes, that is the "Orca" brand.  The whale-tail on the lid pops up so you can sip, and seals tight when you put it down.

That was about as much fun as I could handle today.  Sure felt good after being in the house for the last couple days.