Michael and I went to the beach for a mid-morning swim. The water was exceptionally calm, with large fishing boats much closer to shore than usual.  Of course, as we swam out to enjoy the gentle waves and warm water, Michael chimed in with his usual mentioning of sharks, his way of teasing me!

I was already on guard, more shark wary than usual this morning as the large fishing boats were so much closer to shore than usual, meaning in my mind – little fish closer to shore means bigger fish closer to shore!

Then suddenly Michael yelped out, in genuine fear, “Did you see that?!” and moved the fastest I’d ever seen him move to get out of the water! My heart went to my throat as I started towards shore, fighting against the pullback from the waves. I turned to the disturbance in the water a short distance from us that scared Michael.  There I suddenly saw a large dorsal fin and tail dive into the water.  A DOLPHIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ran to shore, not to get out of the water but to grab my camera!!!!!!

I lost sight of the dolphin, but managed to get a picture of Michael looking curiously out at the water!

Then I saw the dorsal fin and started running down the beach for a closer look!

Here, she seems to be enjoying a nice swim before diving in to catch some lunch!

Here she’s splashing around, diving to get more lunch!

She then started moving further out to sea, and joined a friend!

Soon, it seemed the dolphins had moved out sea. As we packed up to go, I turned to take another look out at the water just in time to see a LARGE splash near the breakwater – breaching was the first though that came to my mind.  And just as I thought that thought, I blinked and as I opened my eyes – in the same spot along the breakwater – not far from shore – suspended for a fraction of a second before me – a dolphin was breaching – her entire belly – white with grey spots – her entire bottom side was facing me!!!! Oh, how I wish I had my camera at the ready for that moment!!  I will NEVER forget it!!!!!!!

I love dolphins so much!  This was such a special moment!!!!  I’ve seen porpoises while sea kayaking in Nova Scotia. This was my first time seeing dolphins swimming in the ocean!

S, <3 <3 <3