Looking for dolphins

Posted on December 27, 2021 by dinajohnston

The weather was too nice during the week of Thanksgiving not to be outside all week. My sister and I booked a dolphin tour out of the Clearwater marina one morning. Even if we didn’t see any dolphins, it would be a fun trip out on the water.

We were not going out to far, staying in the intercoastal waterway area. The tide was super low so we had to stay right at the channel markers. I could see Sand Key beach far off to the right.

Right away we saw a dolphin! We were cruising along next to another tour boat and a dolphin was right behind them, chasing the waves. Of course we were facing right into the sun so it was hard to get good shots. I see a lot of dolphins down at Fort Desoto but rarely see them coming out of the water this much so this was fun.

Some of the birds we saw cruising around including two white pelicans flying high up.

We also saw several dolphins chasing fish into the sea walls. They were flapping the water hard to stun the fish. After all of the dolphin sightings we headed out to a small spit island to look for shells. More on that later.

Starting vacation

Posted on December 7, 2021 by dinajohnston

The Monday before Thanksgiving I headed to the airport to pick up my sister who was coming to spend the week with us. I had a few minutes before she got off the plane so I snapped the above of this beautiful tree near her concourse. Even though it was a bit early, it still put me in the vacation spirit.

It was beautiful outside so after lunch we headed over to Clearwater beach. It’s always fun being a tourist in my own town when she comes to visit. We ended up at the Clearwater marina later that afternoon and watched the fishing boats come in (it was something we use to do with our parents when we were growing up and came here to visit our grandparents).

We decided to stay for sunset even though the clouds were moving in quickly. The sky looked like it was on fire as the sun went down. While we were there we thought we might as well have dinner on the beach too. A great way to start the week.

Last of the Thanksgiving tourist tour

Posted on February 13, 2020 by dinajohnston

Cruising along Clearwater bay looking for dophins. Lots of big buildings going up around the beach including the new expanded Clearwater Marine Aquarium, home of Winter the movie star dolphin from A Dolphin’s Tale who lost his tail and was given a prosthetic tail.

Anyone want a boat real cheap? An abandoned boat near the marina.

Cruising by some of the big old historic homes along the intercoastal waterway.

Out along Sand Key.

Two osprey taking a bath on a sand spit during low tide.

We stopped at a spoil island near Sand Key and looked for some shells. The ones that were still alive were put back in the water.

The last day my sisters were here visiting we took a 2 hour dolphin tour out of Clearwater marina. After living here for almost 18 years it was the first time I had done that. It was fun being out on the water on such a beautiful morning. We finally did see some dolphins coming back to the marina but I didn’t take any pictures. The boat was fairly full and I hung back letting all of the tourists see them from the edge of the boat. It’s fun to see people’s reactions when they see one for the first time out in the wild. Living here we take things for granted. I saw 3 of them coming home from work recently while I was stuck in traffic on the bridge.

Clearwater marina

Posted on January 20, 2020 by dinajohnston

Over Thanksgiving weekend I was being a tourist in my own town. It was easy to do since I actually had tourists with me. When my sisters were visiting we decided to take a dolphin tour out of Clearwater marina. Brett and I don’t get over to this beach area often since it’s usually busy and things like work get in the way so it was fun to walk around the marina on a cool sunny morning.

There’s a no wake zone coming out of the marina area so we went really slow until we got out into the open intercoastal water. I was snapping pictures along the way. We did finally see dolphins. More on that later.

On the way home we stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier and a manatee was cruising under the pier. I was able to snap the above with my phone as he went by.

Being a tourist, continued

Posted on February 2, 2019 by dinajohnston

If you look closely you can always find birds at a marina. While my sister and I walked around the Clearwater Beach marina, we saw tons of pelicans, great egrets and snowy egrets. Birds we didn’t see that are usually there are great blue herons and green herons. They hang around the docks hoping to be fed the scraps when the fishing boats come in and the fisherman fillet the fish right there. I recently found out that it’s illegal to feed birds fish parts. The pelican’s pouch is very delicate and made to swallow the fish whole. If there are bones sticking out, they will puncture the pouch and tear, keeping the pelican from being able to scoop up fish on their own. They will eventually starve. The bird sanctuaries in the area are full of pelicans with torn pouches from eating fish parts. Another reason why wild animals should not be fed.

Signs at the fishing piers that people seem to ignore.

Clearwater sights

Posted on February 15, 2018 by dinajohnston

The Saturday after Thanksgiving I took my sisters over to the beach for a walk before lunch. We walked around the marina and stopped in some of the gift shops there.

Later on that day we walked on the causeway from Clearwater to Tampa and watched the sun go down before heading home for dinner.

Another episode of “Being a Tourist on the Beach”

Posted on March 9, 2017 by dinajohnston

I rarely go to Clearwater Beach anymore. It’s very crowded and cost a fortune to park, if you can get a parking spot. Although, it is fun to go over every once in while to see what’s going on. Right after I picked up my sister from the airport we headed over to the beach to walk around. She had not been in several years. We were hoping to get a good sunset but dark clouds had moved in. I guess the weather had kept most people indoors because it wasn’t too crowded the Tuesday before Christmas. It was fun walking around the beach and marina.

Dina's Wildlife Adventures

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