Tooling Around

 7/12/25

Opal-

Today was one of those days where all the bugs and problems and heat of the summer were worth it. We slept in had a great breakfast/lunch and took our now working boat (thanks to Angelo, the marina manager, and Oliver’s parents) out on the bay. We planned to go to Snake Bight, a bay within the larger Florida Bay. There we were told some employees had seen flamingos and a variety of other birds. The tide was low and there was absolutely no wind as we set out of the channel. The water was glassy smooth. There was a bit of a storm moving in but other than that perfect conditions. On our way out we had a great dolphin encounter. It swam in circles around the boat (Now christened The Boot, for no particular reason other than it sounds funny) and popped above the surface quite a few times before we left it behind. A lovely start to our boat ride. We passed Joe Kemp Key and took a left down the channel into Snake Bight. There were found plenty of markers that led all the way to a mangrove peninsula. As we neared the end of the channel we started to see lots of birds near the shore and out in the shallow seagrass. The tide was low which has become my favorite time to be out because you can hear all the life of the ocean around you. Lots of mullet slapping the water when they jump, sharks scarring and splashing away. You can’t go a second without hearing a noise at low tide. Then we saw pink. I got very excited thinking we had found flamingos, however as we got nearer, now poling through the shallow water, those flamingos turned into Roseate Spoonbills. I wasn’t very disappointed because they were the first we had seen this summer and they were still pretty darn pink. I began to regret not bringing my camera. There were so many great opportunities. I told Oliver “I bet his is how you feel when there’s lots of fish and you don’t have your rod.” As we pushed further in we noticed an opening in the mangroves and decided to investigate. When we got there both of us noticed a crocodile head staring at us from the water. It went under and we continued into the channel. Then a crocodile slid out from underneath some mangroves on the bank and slunk off into the water. As we pushed farther up, there was another crocodile, this one a little baby about 3 feet long. Further in the water started to become very shallow. Oliver had been polling us around and gave me a chance. Within a minute I had got us stuck and was frustrated. So Oliver took the pole back and we headed back out to open ocean. Back at the Marina we got some ice cream and headed home. It was what a boat day should look like. We have even mastered the boat ramp as a couple which even without being in a relationship is a very stressful place.