Thursday night, I finally got a decent weather window to get home. Could have done it at other times, but was tired of having my butt kickied by the thunderstorms, and had to hustle up some, because of the upcoming weather in the gulf. I headed out of Gulfport at midnight, leaving late enough that I would be dodging crab traps in Lake Ponchatrain after daylight.
So, around 4AM I am motoring along in very light winds, in the ICW. Dark as H. I'm meeting a barge string and I ease over out of the channel a little bit to give him plenty of clearance. The tug is 1/2 mile or so ahead of me, and has his super spot light on a day marker a little bit behind me. I hear the pod of dolphins blowing, and look over. The light from the tug is just right to catch the vapor from the blows. Do not actually see the dolphins. But the vapor from their blowing looks kind of like a bunch of geysers rising from the water, and some of the tiny water beads are catching the light and sparkling like diamonds. There is nothing else visible, and it is one of the prettiest things I have ever seen on the water. Only bad thing is, the entire episode lasted less than a minute.
So, around 4AM I am motoring along in very light winds, in the ICW. Dark as H. I'm meeting a barge string and I ease over out of the channel a little bit to give him plenty of clearance. The tug is 1/2 mile or so ahead of me, and has his super spot light on a day marker a little bit behind me. I hear the pod of dolphins blowing, and look over. The light from the tug is just right to catch the vapor from the blows. Do not actually see the dolphins. But the vapor from their blowing looks kind of like a bunch of geysers rising from the water, and some of the tiny water beads are catching the light and sparkling like diamonds. There is nothing else visible, and it is one of the prettiest things I have ever seen on the water. Only bad thing is, the entire episode lasted less than a minute.