7-20-07 dolphins in the Bay

The last few days I have seen dozens of pods of dolphins all around the Fairhope area of the bay. They have been within 25 yards of shore. I was told that the mullets were everywhere and the dolphins have come in after the mullets... that's cool... anyway... Today was my first opportunity all week to go out paddling so I had to get out there and see if i could "run into" a few of my dorsal finned friends.

I went down to Blind Dog Mikes and got the little 11 foot Loon in the creek and headed towards the bay. I moved out into the bay and headed out towards the artificial reef. I made it out about 1/2 mile when all of a sudden I was surounded by about 15 to 20 dolphins... they were everywhere.........WOW.... It was amazing..

They were all around and were moving south so I just got into their trail and went with them...

This time they didn't come against the boat and play like the last time...( they had mullet on the brain )... but they allowed me to go with them for about a half on hour... there was one baby that wanted to come and see what I was, but everytime it got within 6 feet of me.. mama came along and got between us and moved it a bit away.... I have to say that this was one of the most amazing adventures yet.. to be allowed to go "fishing" with "the family" was absolutely beyond any words... I hope to see them again sometime...

Glad you came along with me... I'll be looking forward to the next time....

7-14-07 Dorothy's First time Kayaking

Hey everyone,
Today was a cool adventure in that my high school girlfriend, Dorothy, was in from Texas for a visit to Fairhope. She said that after reading the blogs that she wanted to go paddling on the Mobile Bay more than anything. She had never been in a Kayak before , but we all had to have a first time so we loaded up in the boats down at blind Dog Mikes and headed out Bailey's Creek.


The water in the bay was very smooth. I was glad of that since it was her first time out. We paddled out about 3/4 of a mile and the just had a lazy paddle north in the direction of the Grand Hotel at Great Point Clear. We never tried to reach a destination...just floated and paddled around so she could experience the bay...


We had been out about an hour when I suddenly heard that old familiar burst of air coming from my port side. I turned and saw a huge dolphin sufacing and then he came up again and blew a second time. I told Dorothy the direction to look but we never saw him again.... about 10 minutes later Dorothy heard one blow, but didn't see him... so after about another half hour of paddling around we headed back in... on the way back to the creek we found ourselves in the middle of a run of Manhadens and Mullets. Dorothy really loved having the mullets jump all around her.

When we arrived Mike said that there were a lot of Dolphins in the bay and that there was two adults and a baby near where we were. He had been out fishing for mullets and he saw them. That must have been one of the ones that we saw. Later that same day while hanging out in Fairhope at the Orange Street Pier we saw a string of about 10 pods of dolphins running north to south about 20 yards off of the pier. Each pod had 4 to 10 Dolphins in them.They were surfacing and jumping out of the water....it was an incredible sight to see and was the icing on the cake of another wonderful adventure in the Mobile Bay..

Thank you for coming with me and I wll be looking forward to our next trip together.

I will see you then...........

6-25-07 Trying out a new Kayak

6-25-07 Trying out a new Kayak

I have really wanted to have my own kayak but i have been concerned about the weight of the boat because of my wrist... so I decided to try out a lightweight boat today.. It is a Featherlight 9.5 by Heritage Kayaks.

I picked up the boat from Fairhope Boat Company and headed down to the Fairhope City Pier... This boat really lives up to it's name .. it is really Featherlight.. It weighs only 36 lbs. Anyway, I put in just North of the pier and headed out into the bay. I went out about 1/2 mile and turned North. The boat tracks really well and was easy for me to paddle. I paddled to Fly Creek and then returned to the Fairhope Pier...

I really did like this boat so when I returned the rental I ordered one of my very own... I just couldn't help myself... I got a Mango one and I am looking forward to taking it out in a few weeks when it arrives.. It was a good day on the water... My body and my spirit was refreshed.. and as always it was yet another adventure. Thanks for coming along... I'll see you next time.......