Cool Surfing Stuff

I've had a few days of good surfing in a row. What happened to me this morning however; is beyond cool - it's amazing.
I was at my normal surfspot - Ponce Inlet - on the north side of the inlet. This area is the shark bite capital of the U.S. Nobody ever dies from sharkbites here, but more bites happen here than anywhere else in the U.S. The bites are described as "small dog like" bites. While that's better than getting your arm torn off (or worse) by a Great White - it's still not cool to get bitten by a small dog either- especially one that's underwater that you can't see (if there are dogs like that)

So with this always in the back of your mind - you surf there anyway - because it's the best surf around. Statistics show that just swimming 1/2 mile north of the jetty will reduce significantly your chance of getting bitten - but the waves aren't as good there. Oh well, - what are you gonna do?

So, I was about 75 yards off shore this morning with a good group of guys who had come down for the morning from St. Augustine. We were just sitting on the boards waiting for a good set. We were in less than 5 feet of water - in fact - a couple of guys were standing in chest deep water beside their boards while waiting.

I had seen a 'fin' out of the corner of my eye about 2 minutes earlier, but kinda put it out of my mind (you have to do that if you want to surf here). As I was talking to one of the guys (I had my back to the shore) a large dolphin came completely out of the water no more than 35 feet behind him. Of course - everyone was ooo-ing and aaahing (like a fireworks show). I pointed and said 'look' to the guy I was talking to and as he turned around - 3 more dolphin jumped completely out of the water (just a car length away or so) and did kinda 'half flips'. Obviously, this was a great show for anybody to see - but in the water just a few feet away - it was really cool.

Then, it got better. A set of waves started coming in and the dolphin were lined up in the waves surfing them - coming right toward us. It was amazing and a little scarey at the same time. They were coming FAST. 3 fins - side by side were coming at me at a high rate of speed. There was nothing I could do - so I braced myself for a collision. The fins went under water just a half second before they got to me and 'apparently' reappeard on the otherside of me. Everyone looked at me and kept saying - 'did they hit you?' Are you sure they didn't hit you? It was amazing. They came back around and rode one more wave and then went away.

When I got home, I looked up a photo on line that reminded me of what had happened this morning . I found 3 photos that could have been taken this morning - they are that true to the experience. The only difference is that the waves weren't more than 4-5 feet tall this morning and there were only 4 dolphin together. Otherwise - these photos look just like this morning. It was cool.