Ft. Myers Trip, Day 6: A New Friend

RECAP:    My husband and I both grew up on the river.  Literally.  The river was just footsteps outside of both of our front doors.  We love the water.  We love the beach.  So when we decided to start venturing further than a day's drive away from our home for a family vacation, we chose the beach.  Ft. Myers Beach, FL, to be exact.  Here's what we did on:

Day 6:

     I am fairly certain that what happened on day 6 was one of the biggest highlights for everyone on our trip.  The day started out very normal.  Our entire crew went to Mass and then we hurried home in an attempt to make it down to the beach in time for low-tide.  We still hadn't found any whole sand dollars and we were really hoping to find just one!  We never did find a whole sand dollar (just lots of pieces), but God had something bigger and better in store for us!  

     We were all pretty spread out, heads down, scouring the sand for any sign of just one little sand dollar that had somehow escaped the bashing of the waves, the walkers, and the bikers, without getting broken.  I took a little break and looked up to see my husband in the water searching.  I was admiring his handsomeness when I caught a glimpse of something behind him:

My first instinct was excitement.  We had seen the dolphin at Sanibel a few days earlier and it had looked just like this.  I started yelling my husband's name trying to get his attention.  He was oblivious to the fact that there was a dolphin in the water with him, heading his way.  He couldn't hear me, and the dolphin, who wasn't doing  any cute little dolphin jumps, was increasingly looking more and more like a shark in my paranoid brain.  My calling to my husband became a little more anxious, and I stopped standing and started moving.  I'm glad my panic didn't escalate to the point of me yelling, "SHARK!" because, well, that would have been extremely humiliating and I'm not sure I am flexible enough to bend over and bury my head in the sand. It was indeed a dolphin, and we were all treated to about a half hour fishing show just feet off of the shore.  There was quite a crowd, and cell phones were out in full force snapping memories while we all followed our new friend up and down the beach.  Here are a several of the hundred (literally) pictures taken on our cameras:

   Our daughter was mesmerized.  She loves animals and this is the day we say she transformed from Penguin Girl to Dolphin Girl, with dolphins doing the impossible and replacing penguins as her favorite animal (at least for the week)!

The Blowhole:  Proof it is a dolphin and not a shark!

It would just barely move around, almost to the point that I worried it might be sick, and then BAM, it would take off like torpedo.

Annnd back to the slow and lazy speed.

At one point it put on a full Sea Worldish show, and did a series of spins and turns.

Who needs Shamu?!

Fantastic!

And back to the lazy swim...notice how close to shore this all took place.  Amazing!

The rest of the week our dolphin friends continued to make appearances, but this was the longest show we caught.  What a treat!

The rest of the day was pretty bland in comparison.  Nothing new.  Beach, bike rides, and sunset.  Good fun!

Cruisin' the beach on the bike!

Our daughter's turn on the bike!

This is the mom I remember from childhood.  Sitting in the pool chair soaking in the rays.

The little guy discovered the joys of driving his "boat"!

After a great game of "Red Light, Green Light" 

It was time to wave goodbye to the sun!

And I enjoyed checking out the sunset, with MY new favorite animals, the pelicans!

Dolphin Video:

For those who are prone to motion sickness, beware...it's a little shaky!

Here's what we did on :  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4,  Day 5, Day 7, Day 8,  Day 9