This afternoon I left Brend with the kids at a park on the Wynnum Esplanade and headed for home in my kayak.
Approaching Manly Yacht Club I noticed some fins and splashing in the distance. Fortunately I could see from quite a way off that they were dolphins - but as dolphins feed off the same bait fish as sharks this isn't necessarily encouraging, according to the guys at the canoe club!
Anyway, curiosity got the better of me and I was rewarded by 20 minutes or so of front row seats to wild dolphin behaviour - awesome!
Each time I felt I was getting quite close I'd back off out of respect for the dolphins. However, the one in the photo above left came and sought me out, interested to examine this strange creature floating on top of it's world. What a treat!
Unfortunately it was a little choppy and I needed my hands primarily to control the kayak, not to take photo's. Added to that, my waterproof camera is a little point and shoot, with a delay, getting decent photo's proved impossible. After attempting a few shots I simply sat back and enjoyed the experience. If I kept still in the water they'd lose interest, if I started paddling slowly in their general direction they'd come back for another nosy at me.
8 months ago when I got my first sea kayak (a sit-on-top, fortunately I was in the rather more stable sit-inside today, which did leave me feeling more secure with the whole experience) this was the sort of encounter I was dreaming of - hard to believe it's really happened so soon! Cold weather (relatively speaking) aside, I think I'll be going out more frequently again now.
