We could not have asked for better weather … or more dolphins.
The morning was rather slow where dolphin sightings were concerned. Only two bottlenose dolphins seen. And we saw them again, about 30 minutes after the first observation, when we hauled anchor to search from a moving boat. It seemed like a mother/calf pair with the larger dolphin having a distinctive scar on the dorsal side of the peduncle (tail stock). It was a healed shark bit. This dolphin also had lost the left pectoral fin and half of the right one. But she swam well. We saw a few more spotted dolphins as we slowly made our way south. The dolphins were not really interested in us, but more in catching a free ride at the bow of the Hanky Panky. We obliged them gladly … and watched with delight. We arrived at the Sugar Wreck at about 3 pm. The current was still rather strong but slowly ebbed an we all had a nice snorkel and view of the skeleton of this old ship. It sank in the early 1900's. The resident turtle was no where to be found, but the nurse shark (turtle's neighbor) was home. We stayed on the mooring for about two hours and then headed east. We anchored in about 15 feet of water for the night. And, saw three crater-feeding bottlenose dolphins on our way. This was a different but exciting day from the previous few. Hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day for this week at sea. Till tomorrow. Kathleen