#love florida

[stupidtiredcaffeinewired]

[flukesandflorida]

Seriously, this is the BEST hotel room view I could ever ask for

Wild Bottlenose Dolphin leaping just off Cocoa Beach, Florida. (Captured from my hotel room balcony at Ocean Landings Resort!)

"In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!" (Psalm 95:4-6)

[soloseok]

Shon are u okay?

if this is about the hurricane stuff i should be fine!! we are getting a hotel when it hits so we arent at home so hopefully it doesnt hit TOO hard im worried bout my friend in pr most tho ): but thank u for asking aarav my sweet honey

[littleblondmamma]

I love fairs 🎡🍻🎪🍭🎢🍿

[flukesandflorida]

When photographed at a certain angle, even a large, powerful animal like this bull Bottlenose Dolphin can appear so small and cute

I mean he looks like he's just a little critter poking his head up to look around 😂

[flukesandflorida]

Gasparilla Sound dolphin P47 "Zenith" lifting her flukes while diving

Although comparing dorsal fin photographs is our main method for identifying individual dolphins within our study areas, fluke photos can be used for ID too!

Zoom in on the second picture, and you'll probably be able to see some of the small nicks in the trailing edges of her flukes, which can be used to help us distinguish this individual from others within the population.

[flukesandflorida]

There I sat on the bow of my little old clipper boat, with the sun sinking low behind my back. The motor was turned off, and I had stuck a paddle into the sand and wrapped my legs around it, to keep the boat stationary in the gentle current as I operated the camera. A dolphin, one I know by the nicks in his/her fin to be P18 "Li," comes to the water's surface for a breath of air, blowing a sparkling spout of mist as he does so. Li swims over the shallow mud flats. I know he is probably echolocating a school of fish beneath the surface. His dorsal fin slices through the glassy reflections on the waves. He turns onto his side, lifting a pectoral fin in the air as he attempts to maneuver through the shallowest waters.

Time is running out for me. The sun is setting, and I do not have proper lighting on my little boat. I must be back at the dock before sundown. I consider calling it quits now - Li's movements are slow and casual, so I don't feel that I'll "miss" any action. Yet for some reason, I cannot pull myself away from the scene. Its calm, surreal feeling holds me captive. It keeps the paddle anchored in the sand. After having caught no fish, Li finally decides to leave. He glides over the flats, passes right by me, then disappears into the deeper water. Only then do I pull up the paddle and push my boat back into the channel. I start up the motor and head for the dock across the bay. 

A piece of the dream-like sensation still clings to me as I ride off into tranquil sunset-colored harbor. In that moment I determine that I cannot simply share the photographs captured this evening - I must at least try to explain the scene and the feeling. I will attempt to, though no writer - reguardless of their skill - could ever perfectly portray the emotions stirred in such a scene. It is a feeling that can only be accurately expressed to my own heart.

[flukesandflorida]

It’s such a mysterious thing, to have the opportunity to look into the eyes of another creature, one which you know may share an intelligence close to your own. To know that he is probably watching you through eyes that are processing and calculating, that there’s actually someone behind that focusing gaze. It gives you a feeling that I cannot describe here with words. The photographs themselves are as close as I can come to recounting such a sensation in one post...

Please note: We did not attempt to approach this animal when these photos were taken. The behavior depicted in these photographs is often known as “begging” - a wild dolphin approached us while we were fishing and would continually lift his head above the water, hoping that we would offer him a fish. Feeding wild dolphins, however, is both illegal and harmful. I wrote a little more about this encounter here [link]