Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #12 - 2/7

 This was our day to take the Eco-Cruise to see wildlife out in Tampa Bay.  The day was overcast and had intermittent local showers, none of which affected us in any way.

We took the morning gently, although I did take down the old metal blinds in "my" bedroom.  Then we headed into Tampa to the Aquarium and the cruise boat.  Our choice of day was inspired as the dullness and cool helped keep the number of passengers way down, making it easy to see from by any railing we chose plus giving lots of opportunity to ask questions of either our guide/narrator or of the

several volunteers & aquarium staff who came along with us.  We were however very glad to have taken light wind cheaters as the breeze & the boat movement made it seem cool.  Our narrator was excellent and gave us a wealth of information both about the port as we headed out and the wildlife, primarily waterbirds, and the natural and man-made geographic features.  Many years of dredgeing have created some significantly large islands which, having no predators are popular nesting sites/bird sanctuaries.

Just about the time we feared we were going to be one of the 5% of cruises that do not see dolphins in their natural habitat we ran into a good size gathering of largely females and juveniles and were allowed a good while to look.  However, trying to photograph them is all a matter of luck as they surface only briefly and reaction time and digital camera shutter speed usually result in empty pictures of water!

Additional pictures of our cruise may be seen here.

Heading home we stopped at a Sherwin Williams store for Jean & Peter to see and discuss the plain, background-hiding, paintable wallpaper that I had recommended to them as I have used it successfully to cover the paneling in my family room and also the rough walls in my bathroom.  I think they will go that way in their about-to-be remodeled study room.

Back home we started installing the new blinds, but will have to demount them again as we suspect the control cords are tangled inside the header.  It was a very good day and we all enjoyed it.