A Boat Day with Naples Bottlenose Dolphins

Happy Cyber Monday! After you are done reading this post if you want to get our shop on I suggest you check out these sales and discount codes, I’ve got you covered.  Well now that that is done let me share something really amazing that happened recently – on Saturday afternoon we pulled out of the bay and were drive to one of my favorite Keewaydin Island when my Mom nearly shouted “dolphins”. Normally a shout like that is only reserved for two things: the boat is close to hitting something or there is wildlife and I’m always thrilled when it is later. 

For a bit of background, for more than 20 years dolphins have been my favorite animal and ten year old Kelly nearly died and went to heaven when she got the chance to swim with them.  Many things have changed since then but my love of these majestic creatures has not, especially when they are in the wild.  As it was a relatively chilly day in Southwest Florida on Saturday – with morning temperatures in the 60’s and a high of only 72 four dolphins were happily swimming and playing in the bay and canals.  In the photo above the water looks nice and blue but when you zoom, apologies for the gray / green water!  

We have seen dolphins quite a few times in the Naples Bay or around the Marina but this is the first time we have seen them not only chase our boat but stay put in one place. My amazing father was nice enough to do tons of controlled donuts so that I could get photos of them with my DSLR while standing on the front of the boat.  I took an embarrassing amount of photos on continuous shoot but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.  And in my defense, not only were the beautiful creatures moving fast but so were we!   Here are some of my favorite shots of these Naples Bottlenose Dolphins: 
 

My favorite photo is likely this one because below not only can you see just how close the dolphin was to our bot but you can see the water blowing out of it’s blow hole and there is something just so special about that! 

Which is your favorite shot of the Naples bottlenose dolphins?