The BEST Day!!

When I was very young, I fell in love with horses. Everything in my room was horse related, and I begged my dad for a horse. He said we couldn’t have one because he needed to use that space for a garden. What he didn’t say was that we lived in a subdivision, and I am pretty sure owning large livestock was frowned upon. I grew out of my horse phase as soon as I heard Olivia Newton John sing The Dolphin Song in the '80s. She wrote it as an homage to that beautiful mammal because of the dangers of tuna fishing and how they were getting caught in the nets in Japan. I immediately fell in love and wanted to join Greenpeace at once. I also toyed with becoming a marine biologist, but then I remembered that I would actually have to swim with jellyfish, and sharks, and in water, so I decided to just watch them from afar.  I also used to want to do one of those "swim with the dolphins" excursions, but they were too expensive, and it just seemed too captive for me. The whole purpose of Olivia's song was for the dolphins to be free.  I did not grow out of the dolphin phase, although I stopped collecting them because I have too much stuff, and every one had them.  Collecting something is no fun when you can find it everywhere.  I did, however, decorate Kira's nursery in dolphins because I wanted them to mean as much to her as they do to me.  To help that along, we started going on dolphin cruises in Orange Beach when she was a toddler, and have honored that tradition every year, despite the fact that she hates them.  We literally get eye rolls whenever we tell her that we have one scheduled, and I got the same eye roll when I told her that we would be going on one this trip as well.  Actually, I got two big WHATS?!?!?! from her and Anthony when I informed them that my original plan was to take a SIX hour cruise to hunt down some whales.  I love these ocean mammals, but even I started rethinking that plan, and promptly canceled.  I got them to agree to about a 2 hour jaunt, and Kira is happy to learn that I will never ask her to go on another one, because this was THE BEST EVER!!!!

First of all, I am going to say that lower back spasms and semi-rough seas do not compliment one another, and I experienced both.  My back does that from time to time, and chose to hit me first thing this morning.  I was undaunted, however, because I was not missing this cruise.  I took some Aleve, rubbed some Bio Freeze back there and off we went.   I am going to go ahead and say that we did not see any whales. I sort of thought we would fall short of that because of the time of year we were in, and I really wasn't even that disappointed.  I know.  They are majestic and I wanted to see them, but it is what it is.  The cruise took place on a large catamaran and was led by a very knowledgeable and helpful crew.   After our safety talk, and photo session, we were allowed to walk bow to stern.  I had already decided that I would find a comfortable spot and hang out, but Anthony and Kira went to the bow to look around.  Catamarans have this large open area at the bow that is nothing but water, unless you stretch those mesh things across it.  In order to get to the bow, you pretty much have to walk across the mesh.  There are holes in mesh!  There is lots of ocean beneath those holes!  Guess who was NOT going to walk up there?  I was comfortable; I was seeing some dolphins off the side, and I was happy.  I decided that if Anthony or Kira got better video at the bow, I would just look at it and pretend I was there.  Thankfully, they decided that I needed to actually experience it, and Anthony came to get me.  Of course I made a big enough showing of not wanting to go that one of the captains (there were three on that cruise), came to help.  He and Anthony guided me across that mesh as if I was a frail little old lady.  Thank goodness most people were watching dolphins and not me.

When I tell you seeing all of those dolphins up close was a dream come true for me, I am not exaggerating in the least. We were so close to those beautiful creatures that we got wet from their tails hitting the water. They were amazing, and seemed to be having so much fun entertaining their guests. I heard the captain say that if someone wanted to lie stomach down across the mesh, and stick their hand through one of the holes, they might actually be able to touch one. Had I done that, I would still be lying there. Kira was sweet to take video of them swimming so that I could enjoy the experience. The photos below are ones she got from the video. No zooming in had to be done at all. That is how close they were to us. It was magical!  The captains estimated around 50 dolphins were in that particular pod.

That boat was gently rocking Kira to sleep at first.

It was magical, and an experience I will never forget.  I will link one of the videos in the comment section so you can see just how active they were, and even that great video does not do it justice, because we put the phones up and just enjoyed the experience so most of it will live forever in our memory, and I am good with that.

Even though we did not see any whales, we did see some sea lions, and this little one waved at us right after I took the photo.  Look at that face!!

After we finished our cruise, we had just enough time to head south to the San Diego area.  We only had time for one experience, and I chose La Jolla Cove right outside of San Diego.  I chose wisely, because it is breathtakingly gorgeous!  The weather was perfect, and even though it was crowded, there was plenty of beauty for everyone.

There were critters galore, and I became obsessed with getting good seal photos.  I also captured a squirrel and lots of gulls.  They are everywhere!!

We leave California tomorrow, and between this trip and a prior one I took many years ago, I have visited pretty much the entire state, and if I had to choose one place in the state to live (without earthquakes of course), I would without a doubt choose the San Diego area.  The weather is perfect (low 70s in July people!), and the scenery is gorgeous.  Definitely my pick.  We had a perfect ending to our short stay.