5. Fort Myers

You know when you are back in salt water. You can smell it.

We just got through the lock when…
PSHUT! PSHUT! A pair of dolphins sprang up right beside the cockpit making us both jump. They sank into the brown water and then reappeared every 30 seconds or so with that percussive expiration that took us by surprise each time. For the next hour and a half they accompanied us down the estuary always surfacing right beside us in the cockpit never at the bow. We felt we were taking two frisky dogs for a walk. One had a white scar on its dorsal fin, the other a black spot. Why do they do this? Does the noise of the boat confuse the fish and make them easier to catch? Does the boat provide sonic camouflage that conceals the pressure patterns of a hunting dolphin that fish must know?

They dropped us off at Fort Myers seven miles down from the lock.

Welcome to the Bay of Mexico!