Deanna Hoak

Wow, what an incredible morning we had. We rented a boat and took a jaunt down the Banana River, the saltwater tributary that runs right by our house. As we left, rays of sunlight were streaming down through the clouds nearby, making diagonal stripes in the sky, but in the distance, dark streamers touched the water where you could tell it was raining. We pulled slickers over our warm-weather clothes.

We idled past black-and-white pelicans huddled atop the posts of the pier, then opened the throttle and let the wind sweep past us. I splayed my fingers across the seat beside me and grinned at the bounce of the waves.

We stopped near an island to watch some anglers, and the rain caught us. We snuggled into our jackets and tried to outrun it. My legs were covered in goosebumps where the wind hit the drops on my skin.

On the other side of a bridge, the wind faded. We dropped anchor to fish, and the sun broke through the clouds. The kids were excited, trying to handle the tackle and wield the rods. Evan sniffed the bait shrimp and grimaced, talked silly two-year-old talk about it being stinky, then watched enthralled as his dad put a shrimp on his hook and cast for him. Blaine insisted on learning how to do it for herself.

Blaine caught four whiting! By the time she had her second, we’d shucked out of our raincoats, and the sun dried the water from our skin and clothes. Bill hooked two fish for Evan, then let Evan reel them in. Neither of the kids would touch the fish they caught.

A river porpoise breached not far from the boat, around the time the kids were getting bored. I pointed him out, and we watched him hunt. Behind him, along the shore, the water whitecapped as an entire pod broke through to the surface. Two of the porpoises raced at each other, fins high from the water, like they were jousting, then veered off at the last moment. The others corralled fish into the shallows, splashing and crowding each other.

It was time to go, but as I stowed the tackle and watched the water, hoping for a final glimpse of the dolphins, a manatee surfaced just in front of us, close enough that I could see his whiskers and hear the chuff of his breath before he inhaled and submerged again.

You shoulda been there. Really, it was a beautiful morning.