We arrived in Placida very late on the evening of April 5, 2018. By the time we had launched our deck boat at Placida Park to take it over to our dock, the sun had set, and it was completely dark out.
Still, even in the black of night, I was able to spot a dolphin. Actually, spotting this dolphin wasn’t so hard, because it swam right under our dock!
 |
| Dolphin by the dock! |
The next morning, we got up early, but we weren’t able to go out in the boat. Nope, the whole morning was spent working. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon that we finally were able to head out on the water. Actually, first we had to drive over to Eldred’s Marina, to pick up someone – then we could go explore.
When we reached Eldred’s Marina, the person we were looking for hadn’t arrived yet, so we idled over “next door” to Placida Park to fill our cooler with ice. By the time we were done with that, the person had called and said that they were at the marina.
While the ice was being collected, I stayed in the boat, watching one boat full of fishermen anchored near Placida Park. The people on board were both casting fishing lines and feeding a large group of Brown Pelicans and Cormorants. Suddenly, one of the pelicans began wildly shaking its head while opening its mouth. This kind of behavior could indicate that the pelican had accidentally bitten one of the fishing baits, and the hook had become lodged in its bill. After a few seconds, though, the pelican stopped, so I assumed that either the fishermen had resolved the problem, or that it was simply a “false alarm.” The fishermen then pulled up their anchor and drove away.
 |
| People feeding birds at Placida Park |
After getting the ice and hearing that the person we were going to meet was at Eldred’s Marina, we pushed off and began idling the boat towards the marina docks. Along the way, we ended up driving right through the group of seabirds that had been gathering around the fishing boat. As we drove by several pelicans, I noticed that one had a fishing hook in its bill, with a long strand of fishing line trailing behind it! Apparently, the pelican had been hooked, and the fishermen aboard the boat had simply cut the line.
If you’re ever fishing and accidentally hook a pelican, do not cut the line. Though this may seem like the easiest thing to do at the time, it can lead to the suffering death of the bird. Pelicans often roost on trees by the water’s edge, and the trailing fishing line can easily become entangled in the branches. If the pelican can not free itself from the hook and tangled line, it will remain “tied” to the tree branches, and will slowly starve to death.
We knew that we had to do something. The fishing line trailing behind the pelican was long, so we simply drove close to the bird, grabbed hold of the fishing line, and pulled the animal in toward our boat. We examined the hook in its bill, and thankfully, we were able to pull it out with little struggle.
 |
| One person on our boat working on getting the first hook out. You can see the fishing line hanging from the pelican's mouth (sorry the photo is kinda grainy) |
Unfortunately, we found another hook lodged in its leg, and this one would need to be cut in two if it were to be removed. We didn’t have any wire cutters, though, so we asked the first person we saw – a guy in a small motorboat – if he had any. He did, and, with all of us working together to hold the large bird still and cut the hook, the pelican was soon hook and fishing line free!
 |
| Fishing line free! |
After rescuing the pelican, we headed over to Eldred’s Marina and picked up the person we had been waiting on. Afterward, we all headed down to “the trestle” on Gasparilla Sound to do some dolphin watching!
 |
| Osprey we spotted on the way to Gasparilla Sound |
We spotted one dolphin mulling around in Gasparilla Sound. This individual was one that I’ve seen multiple times in the Placida area. To me, he/she is known as “Izgrev,” and can easily identified by his/her tall, flimsy dorsal fin with a small nick in the back edge. I did capture some photos, but none that were really good, so unfortunately, there’s no pictures to be shared for this encounter.
However, when we returned back to the dock, I spotted several dolphins in Placida Harbor, and I was able to get an okay photo.
 |
| Dolphins in Placida Harbor |
Later in the evening, as the sun was beginning to set, we didn’t head down to Gasparilla Pass like we did every night on our last trip to Placida. Instead, we went down to the beach on the west side of Little Gasparilla Island to watch the sunset. It was beautiful, and I took several photos of the sunset and beach scenes. Southwest Florida beaches are, in my opinion, the best beaches in Florida!
 |
| Sunset over the Gulf of Mexico |
 |
| Sunset waves |
 |
| Unlike most of Florida's east coast beaches, where the waves are rough, crushing shells before they reach the beach, and where the beaches are often picked clean of treasures, the beaches on Little Gasparilla Island are filled with shells - mounds and piles of shells. Which of the shells in this photo would you pick up? |
 |
| Sandpiper |
 |
| Incoming! |
Suddenly, a dolphin’s dorsal fin appeared just off the beach! Everyone was excited to see several dolphins. I followed them, running down the beach as they swam along, stopping periodically to take photos. I recognized one of these individuals as “Mes,” a dolphin I’ve seen a few times in the intercoastal and just offshore of Little Gasparilla Island during my studies on the local dolphins.
 |
| Dolphins in the sunset |
 |
| I'd recognized that big notch in Mes's fin anywhere... |
The dolphins swam quite close to the shore several times, and even began a little bit of splashing and other behaviors that indicated they may have been chasing fish. Unfortunately, they soon swam further offshore, out into the sunset. That wrapped up our first day in Placida. Stay tuned – more Placida posts will be coming up soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment