Backyard Zoology · 30 October 2018
2018-10-30T19:24:08+11:00
https://www.facebook.com/backyardzoology/posts/pfbid02nbxASRXo4qStVFThs79saA5EdE9cDKTfV3sxESv4RTQZy7xuybA2SrxQBThVvbKbl

What with the distraction of the 'day spent locked at home' ie bad-tradie day and the resultant mantid and the excitement of the Regent Honeyeater, I had kind of forgotten that I hadn't posted all the Port Stephens fun!

Ok. So dolphins are almost as big a deal as koalas in PS. Koalas are heavily featured in signage, not only along the side of the road, but also painted ON the road, as a warning to motorists of the possibility of encountering a fluffy, especially at dusk. But what with our initial difficulty in spotting said koalas we were starting to think that the whole thing was one big marketing scam. And then we saw two koalas in one morning and all was forgiven. But dolphins, well, dolphins were another matter. Again, dolphins feature on a LOT of the signage for individual towns in the region and there are regular references to 'the famous dolphins of Port Stephens'. Cue hours spent staring out at various waterways and... nothing. 

I didn't want to travel all that way and not sight a famous dolphin now did I? And so, on the second last morning of our mini break I sneakily suggested a wander around the marina. And where there's marinas there's dolphin watch cruises! The weather was perfect, and the bay absolutely still. Matt nervously followed me into the booking agency. "Hypothetically, what are the conditions like today?" I ask, trying not to sound like I was posing a genuine question in case Matt was listening but totally trying to let the woman behind the desk know that I was keen as. "Perfect. It's like a mill pond out there". I looked out the window. This was no sales based lie. The water was totally flat. 

I grabbed a brochure, opening and closing it several times. "I could go by myself" I suggest, half hidden behind the paper, knowing that Matt was still having flashbacks to our whale watching, perfect storm boat ride from absolute hell. Now, my husband is lovely and I'm even more lovely and the dolphins are famous dolphins so how could he possibly resist? And just like that (welllll....not exactly 'just like that' I guess; there were a few harried conversations, first out the front of the office, then out the back and finally inside) we had two tickets to the next dolphin watch cruise! 

And as we walked out and into the sun to while away the next hour, I felt the first breath of breeze brush against my neck. Oh. Breeze. I look to the mill pond. Still flat. We stopped and grabbed a couple of drinks and Matt was now feeling totally at ease but as the wind slowly started to increase in speed, I could feel my anxiety rising. Shite. What had I done??? Not gonna lie, by the time it was windy enough to warrant taking our hats back to the car prior to the cruise, I was sweaty palmed and wild eyed but all the while totally playing it cool since I had practically entrapped husby. The wind continued to increase and little, foamy white caps started to form on the swell that wasn't there an hour earlier. Oh. No. As we made our way to the front of the boat I was laughing manically because I was just so damn happy and so totally at ease and not at all worried, not even in the slightest and I wasn't going to feel sick at all, not even a twinge and everything was going to be amazing and we were about to see probably hundreds of thousands of dolphins all playing and glinting in the sun like the famous mofos that they were. 

And you know what? I survived. We both did. Even better the ride was smooth and the scenery absolutely stunning and even though we only saw 4 dolphins one was a young one and 4 four famous dolphins are better than none right?! Actually was pretty awesome to see one dolphin with lots of identifiable nicks and notches on its fin. The dorsal fin is made from soft cartilage and can easily be damaged during play and fighting which dolphins do a lot of being social animals. So all in all, 'twas a good day out on the water (and we didn't die!)

Dolphins
Port Stephens

#PSILoveYou #portstephens #portstephensdolphins #moonshadowtqc #moonshadowcruises #backyardzoology