Meeting with Xenia in Bimini
Today began early with our flight to Florida. John stayed in Miami with Lynne, one of our captains aboard the Hanky Panky. I took a Chalk's flight to Bimini from Miami: Chalk's uses seaplanes. This was my first flight on a seaplane. It was much smoother a take-off than a regular flight … but of course, there were no swells or chop on the sea. It was an odd feeling to see the waves splash up and over the plane windows as we took off, and later as we landed. I walked off the plane, went through immigration and customs, was met by Xenia, and went directly to the boat for a late afternoon dolphin trip. The sea was calm and even. The sun was not too hot, considering the time of day. There were four passengers, Nowdla and her daughter, and us. Near to the end of the trip, we saw three spotted juveniles. They bowrode and played a bit. We swam with them for a few minutes. Our second sighting included a few mother/calf pairs and several leaping dolphins. They were doing 'sounding dives' – used mostly when dolphins are feeding. We also saw several dolphins chasing fish – flying fish. It seemed it was dolphin dinner-time. With the setting sun, we watched the show for a bit before returning to port. Neat stuff. Will spend more time tomorrow with Xenia before returning to Miami and then to GBI for my trip. Cheers Kathleen