I have never wanted a Go Pro Camera until this moment.... Second session of the day... hiding in plain sight... while the masses scrap at Poles... splitting the peak with another surfer of fun waist high waves under the mid-day sun with a slight offshore breeze. One of those kinda days where you and your board melt together in synchronicity to form a wave slaying machine. Awesome. The local sea life was out in abundance catching a mid day snack. A sea turtle here, a tarpon there, and of course at Mayport, a pod of dolphins. Set wave comes. Other surfer looks at me "right or left?" "I'll go right" I respond despite the better quality of the lefts, I had been hogging the last few so he was due. We both take off on the outside, he left, and I, right. Just inside of me I can see two small dolphin. As I highline the wave and drop down the face building speed to match that of the wall in front of me the two dolphins likewise start highlining it cruising just below the surface; riding the wave. Cool. I've ridden waves with dolphins before. As we ride down the line I'm kick stalling my retro twin managing my speed so I don't get too close. I respect nature and wild animals and all that. One dolphin peels off and other straightens out putting us about five feet from on another causing me to do the same as the wave slows down. The Dolphin's head broke the surface. Here we were, two wave riders of different species seemingly eyeball to eyeball; me spellbound as the dolphin peered deep inside my soul. And then it happened... He winked at me, submerged and peeled off the back as I rode the mush the remaining few feet. Holy crap! Did that really just happen? That's gotta be like good luck or something. Wait do Dolphins even blink? Once in a lifetime video op... couldn't be any more perfect setting. Sadly my internet research says no. Dolphins don't blink or wink, rather they just change the shape of their eyes to match conditions. Dumb. I'd like to have video to check cuz it looked like a head nod and a wink to me as if to say "fun waves, good ride yeah?"
Rad story man. Forget your research - that dolphin winked at you. With all the recent thoughts on "localism" and who truly "has the wave;" that dolphin was probably trying to say "this is your wave, man."
maybe he knows something we dont... but really that story was amazing thanks for sharing. dolphins are just awesome. i was fishing on the gulf side of florida this year, and a pod showed up by our boat. the captain started the engine and right away they jumped into our wake. they rode with us for like 10 minutes straight
^haha...dang... stink eye... maybe dolphins look at us with surfboards the way we look at those with foamies...board kook!
Haha like some surfers say body boarders need to learn to stand up. He was all "learn how to swim kook!"
Are you sure you didn't eat some purple blotters b4 you went out...haha...nah that's f*ckin' sweet, dude.. that story just reinforces how awesome surfing is, it's so great 'cause even though the lineups are getting more and more crowded, there's still tons of people who look at you funny when you say you surf, because they have no idea how unbelievably awesome it is...I surfed for 6 hours on Sunday, I wasn't getting out of the water until I was tired, and I was and you have no idea what those little far from from perfect waves did for me...it feels like I've been dead inside since about a week after my last session. This year has been the worst for amount of days surfed with the flat spells and all, and I've been really depressed and lazy, but after Sunday I feel like a brand new man, joined Crossfit tonight and did the WOD...I feel so f*ckin good right now and am super motivated to be in tip top for the hurricane swells...which are undoubtedly coming, there's no way were getting skunked! Awesome story, keep the stoke, I know I my stokemeter is supercharged!
in reality the dolphin was a super agro local dolphin looking back at you and thinking, "no one owes you anything." Actually thats a really awesome story and must have been a super powerful moment. good for you man
On sunday i was paddling for a wave and I saw a fin out of the corner of my eye, as I popped up about 8 dolphin come out of nowhere and decided to ride the wave long with me, and when the wave ended they just disappeared, pretty f'ing awesome.
I am not surprised. I grew up surfing in Mayport since my dad was in the Navy and was stationed there. I see a lot of sea turtles, rays, dolphins, sharks there. Probably the one spot here where you will see the most wildlife. A few summers ago I was there on a small day with a couple of other surfers when a huge pod of dolphins showed up. There were probably close to a 100 of them, maybe a little more. Even baby dolphins swimming and breaching the surface with their parents. They hung around for about 10 minutes then moved on. One of the coolest experiences I've had. The place can hold size too. The beach has a gentle slope and rarely dumps. Be careful though at low tide because there are some submerged ship parts in some areas on the Park side.
That's cool man, I saw this at Ponce Inlet about 100 yards from the Jetty, wish I was there today, looks so fun. Mayport Poles looks like it's pretty fun too, hope you score some later
