[Paddlewise] Unexpected Encounter: Trip Report

Its only halfway through Jan. and already I am a month behind my schedule
to paddle 3000 Nm this year. (Why do I even bother with New
Year's resolutions?).  A bad cold and a couple of very strong cold fronts
have limited my paddling.  However, the main problem has been my
reversion to the old "computer programmer schedule".  That's the one
where you stay up till 2 am,  wake up to the alarm at 7 am, throw the
alarm clock across the room, and then go back to sleep until noon.  By
the time you are awake and get organized it just seems too late to get on
the water. Yesterday started out that way, but the weather was just too
nice to stay inside.  It was about 65 degF, overcast, and almost no
breeze.  I managed to make it to the downtown marina by 2:00 PM and
headed out for a 10Nm paddle down the south shoreline of Corpus Christi
Bay (Corpus Christi, Tx).  This paddle gives you great  views of the
downtown skyline, of the high bridge over the entrance to the port, of a
couple of the city's waterfront parks, and of lots of nice waterfront
homes.  I paddled out the breakwater entrance, turned south, and paddled
along the breakwater rocks.  The bay was glassy.  It was not quite
flat, but even the few tiny wavelets had that glassy look you normally
associate with dead calm conditions.  I enjoy paddling right along the
rocks and looking at all the interesting patterns in the granite blocks. 
Its not a fun place to be when the water is rough, so I was grateful for
this chance to paddle in close.    After a half mile, I turned away from
the breakwater and headed for the fishing pier at Cole Park a mile away. 
About half way there I noticed splashing just passed the pier.  At first
I thought it was brown pelicans diving for fish, but as I got closer I
saw the fins.  DOLPHINS and they were really active.  Suddenly one
dolphin went airborne and almost immediately a second one followed.  They
must have been 7-10 ft up in the air.  I quickened my pace to get closer
in case there was more action.  By the time I got to the pier, they were
moving away along the shoreline headed east.  I caught an occasional
glimpse of fins, but I was not gaining any ground on them.  This area is
relatively shallow (3-5 ft) and this was the first time I had ever seen
dolphins there.  It was quite a surprise.  I headed east along the
shoreline wishing I could have seen more when suddenly I heard the
"woosh" behind and to my left.  I turned to see a small dolphin swimming
alongside only 5 yards away.  He swam by in that elevated posture where
they never let their eyes go below the water.  You just know they are
checking you out the same way you are doing with them.  I guess I was not
that interesting, because after just a minute or so he went back to a
more normal swimming mode (surface, submerge, surface) and then he dived
and disappeared.  I continued along the shoreline hoping he would come
alongside again, but after a several minutes I decided  I would just have
to be content with this short encounter. Just when you least expect it
you get surprised again.  I noticed that the two dolphins I had
originally tried to follow had made a circle out into the deeper water in
the bay and were now heading back towards me.  Suddenly just to my right
the smaller dolphin popped back up and then disappeared.   The other two
came around and began following me about 10 to 15 yards behind and to the
left.   They seemed to like to stay behind me so for a while a turned and
paddled backwards so I could watch them more easily.  Then the third
smaller dolphin joined the other two.  They were swimming side by side
and just deep enough that I could not really see their fins.  The water
was so shallow that they created this wide "bow wave" as they swam toward
me.  It was like a scene from one of those horror movies where you don't
see the sea monster, you just see the disturbance in the water.  We
played follow the leader for 10-15 minutes.  They would head out toward
the bay and I would turn to go parallel to them.  They would turn toward
me and I would turn back and let them chase me for a while.  
Occasionally one would move in close to me and then move back to join the
others.  Finally they picked up their pace and headed toward the middle
of the bay.  I decided to let them go and continue with my shoreline
paddle.   I paddled past the houses at Oleander Point, past Doddridge
Park, by the piers of the condos at Shoreline Dr. and Airline and finally
reached Swantner Park after about 1hr 45 min of paddling.  The wind had
picked up a little and there were a few small waves to negotiate.  I
turned around and headed back the way I came. The entire paddle was nice,
but the rest of it did not compare with those 20-30 minutes with the
dolphins.  I never get tired of these encounters.  Sometimes it just
amazing how a last minute, exercise paddle can turn into something really
special.   --- Mark Arnold--- mjamja_at_earthlink.net--- EarthLink: The #1
provider of the Real Internet. 

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