Dolphins

Shannon and I spent the last few weeks in Panama City Beach, Florida and had a few great opportunities to swim in the Gulf of Mexico with dolphins. We went out on jet skis once, and I jumped in the water and had a great experience of two dolphins swimming around me several times. On another day, we went diving at the St. Andrews jetty. Immediately upon descending, eight dolphins surrounded us and swam around looking at us for about a minute before swimming off. We could still hear them communicating, and luckily they were curious enough to come back for a second look. Finally, while Shannon's best friend Jenny was in town, we rented a center console boat and took it out into the Gulf where dolphins seemed to be everywhere we went.
The first two times we saw them, I did not have a camera. My underwater housing was sent in for some minor repairs, and besides it doesn't fit on a jet ski very well. When we went out with Jenny, I still didn't have my camera, but I did learn from the first two experiences to bring Shannon's camera along. The viz was terrible, but I was able to get a few fun portraits.

Being in the water with wild dolphins is a special experience. Doing it three times in the space of a few weeks doesn't change that one bit. When they seem to pivot around in the water to look you in the eyes, it is difficult to describe the experience any other way than magical.

For more photos from Panama City Beach, click here.

For my portfolio of my favorite pictures from this year, click here.
Contact us if you want to share our next magical experience with us.