God's Promise ~ Dolphin Dani and Jurassic Jake

Everywhere we look, we are reminded of God's promises to us. We see His beauty painted across the sky in an abundance of colors. I wanted to do this because we're inspired by the every day beauty of Him. I hope you like the video. ~Dolphin Dani

When I read the Bible, I am reminded of His promises, His compassion for us, His love for us and His mercy upon us all. I am inspired by many verses in the bible and we wanted to share some of them with you. ~ Jurassic Jake

We hope you enjoy your video. We worked very hard putting it together.

Thanks,

Dani and Jake
Kids for Christ

A pirate looks at 40 ~ The Admiral

It’s our captain’s 40th birthday tomorrow. It's been a rough month for him full of loss and heartache so I wanted to do something meaningful for him. It’s hard to get a gift for someone like our captain so instead of buying him something, I made him something. I put together a video looking back at his life over the last 40 years. I’ll let the video do the talking but I will say this about Steve: it’s rare to find a man who has lived his life putting others before himself. A man who has loved his children with everything he has, even if their choices take them in different directions. A man who has risked his own life to save others. A man who puts God first in everything he does in his life.

A recent discussion I had was about heroes. What makes a hero? Who are the modern day heroes? Famous coaches, athletes, movie stars, billionaires? These are people who are worshiped like gods and who’s only qualifying trait is they know a sport well, they play a sport well, they are good at pretending and they made lots of money. These same "heroes" live lives full of selfishness, debauchery and sin. Are these the type of people we should be raising up as heroes? Not at all, in my opinion!!! How about the men and women who put other's needs before their own? The ones who risk their own life for others? The ones who sacrifice things they want so others may have it. The ones who serve their country, their community, their family, their Lord God. The ones like my captain. My husband. The father of my children. He is a real hero. A real man. A real father. A real veteran. He is our hero.

I recently came across a poem that hit home for me. I don’t know the author but I share it with you today in honor of my Hero, my Captain, my Steve. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!! I love and respect you beyond words.

You are my rock, my anchor, and my sea. I live within you, yet you hold me fast. I breathe your soul. Your thoughts so blend with mine I can’t distinguish a dividing line. Before our love is unimagined past. There is no after – now is all to me.

I love you with a tenderness my past could never fathom. Before your love was mine, the person I remember wasn't me. There was no rope of love to hold me fast to life’s one truth within its restless sea, nor happiness to help me draw a line.

Winds of the world blow wild and free, and fast obliterate the most enchanted line. But there is now a well of love in me well past the wind, the turbulence well past, a serenity within me more than mine, an inner calm more endless that the sea.

Through love we’ve found a love past yours and mine. I will hold fast to what is best in me. Love draws its own shoreline and pounding sea.

Captiva to Marathon- by Dolphin Dani

Crew's log - Captiva to Marathon

May 30, 2012, 1115
Today we said good bye to Captiva. We have lived here for several months and had so much fun but it's time to continue our journey. We left for Fort Myers Beach about 1100. The weather was good, minus a chance of showers. There’s some nasty looking stuff out on the Gulf.

Kids waving as we entered Matanzas Pass, Ft Myers Beach

Cloudy weather

May 30, 2012, 1600
We’re here at Fort Myers Beach! On the other side of the sandbar, there’s an old World War II ship, the USS Mohawk. The skies are clear and it’s going to be a beautiful sunset!!



May 31, 2012, 912
We just left for Marco Island! Pretty cloudy.



May 31, 2012, 1415
The weather’s still cloudy, but, hey- like the Bob Marley once sang,” don’t worry about a thing, ‘cause every little thing’s gonna be alright!” The waves are fun to ride. I got strapped in and sat at the bow, riding the waves felt like a roller coaster. It is so much fun! Plus, we some dolphins ride our bow with us!

Sophie not worrying 'bout a thing

Waves crashing

Me riding the waves–hard to see how big they were but it was AWESOME!

May 31, 2012, about 1830
We’re here at Marco! Our next stop is Indian Key!
We are staying off a little beach were we took the dogs for a walk and collected some nice shells.



June 1, 2012, 1230
The trip to Indian Key was canceled by the weather. Oh well, safety first and hey, we are headed to Smokehouse Bay with 2 dolphins leading the way! Smokehouse Bay is really nice place to anchor. We can dinghy to the grocery store’s dinghy dock and walk around Marco Island. Spent 2 days waiting out the weather.



No Mas anchored in Smokehouse bay



The McDonald's was a tiki hut!

Jake really likes chocolate

Pretty sunsets

Pretty flowering trees

June 3, 2012, 730
We hoisted anchor! The weather’s totally clear! Captain said we have a “GO”! Off to Indian Key!!



June 3, 2012, 1330
We just dropped anchor and… is that a bull shark?! Dad just got Bruce (from “Finding Nemo”) on a hook but he broke the line. We saw it from the boat, it was at least 5 1/2 feet! On a prettier note, we took an adventure walk around the island. We found are 6 sea turtle nests! Sadly, 2 had been raided by raccoons. I didn’t know raccoon’s could live all the way out here on a tiny little island! We didn’t even see any but the dogs did. Sophie treed one and started barking to let us know. Then Ralph ran into the trees and came out with a huge raccoon in his mouth!! He was so proud to show us his prize. Oh, I call this “Karma,” or “Turtle’s revenge.”


Indian Key at high tide



Turtle nest

June 4, 2012, 1125
We’re leaving behind Indian Key and Bruce. (Phew!!) We’re headed for New Turkey Key. I’m not the one who names these places! I wonder if there are turkey’s on New Turkey Key? We’ll find out.



We are here

June 4, 2012, unknown time.
We’re here, and now we’re hanging! Well, except we’re walking sideways. Let’s just call this incident “The Great Tilt.” Dad cleaned the bottom on one side while we were here. We saw lots of HUGE stingrays and dolphins bow- rode  the dinghy!! SO COOL! But no turkeys.




June 4, 2012, 1000
During the middle of the night, Dad and Mom raised anchor and left New Turkey Key behind us. The mosquitoes are terrible! Even with our netting, they find a way in. Traveling at night, we get to sleep and Mom and Dad get to avoid the mosquitoes while out to sea.

June 5, 2012, 0900
We pulled into Little Shark River. Mom and Dad hadn’t slept so once we were safe at anchor, they slept. Jake and I played, our favorite thing to do! Once the sun started going down, the mosquitoes found us again!! They were horrible so Captain said “Onward we go!”, so we had another night voyage ahead of us.



June 6-7, 2012
We found a cool spot by Flamingo. We’re about a mile off shore so we can stay away from those nasty mosquitoes! We’re going to stay here a couple days so we can rest a little and have some fun. While here, we fished A LOT! Dad caught a SHARK! I caught 2 fish at the same time. And once, I even caught a small fish, only to have a shark attack it when I was reeling it in and eat half of it!! It was crazy. We also did our laundry and managed to clean up a ton of trash off the island we were exploring. I wish people would be more aware of all the trash they just throw out. It has to end up somewhere you know!

 

Blacktip shark

June 8, 2012, 1030
We’ll be in the Keys today! Whoa, that’s a BIG turtle! Sweet.

June 8, 2012, 1750
I can now see the bottom… under 10 feet of water. We’re parallel to the 7 Mile Bridge.



June 8, 2012, 1920
We’re here at Marathon, Florida, home to the Turtle Hospital, the awesome Dolphin Research Center and the (from what I’ve read) only live coral reef in North America, Sombrero Reef. Super cool! 


I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip as much as we enjoyed the trip!

~Dolphin Dani

The original Captain ~Admiral

It’s Father’s Day today and that has me spending today thinking of my dad, or “Pops” as I like to call him. What can I say about my dad, well it won’t sound like a Hallmark card and but it won’t require a trip on Dr. Phil’s talk show. My life with my father was something in the middle.
I learned a lot of life lessons from my dad. Some have gotten me through a lot, some not so much and others I find myself repeating to my own kids now. My dad was always there for us, always took us on fantastic vacations (even if we were bored, pains-in-the-butts), always showed us adventure and that hard work is expected and will pay off in the end. My dad was tough, sometimes maybe too tough, but it did teach us to be tough adults. And Mom always softened up the toughness so it all equaled out!
Pops taught us that life is better with a little adventure. He was the first Captain in my life and instilled a love of water that I cannot quench. We learned how to drive a boat before a car, a motorcycle before a bicycle and that adventure is only limited by your willingness to explore.

Snorkeling trip

Boomerang (Dad's boat)

Check out the boat in the back. Any wonder why I love No Mas so?

Dad with Shelly

He taught us that there is so much world out there, just waiting to be discovered.












He taught us that no matter how big or small the fish, fishing is a heck of a good time!











He taught us not to take ourselves too serious all the time.










Some of my dad’s jewels of knowledge:

• “Walk it off!” – this goes for anything besides a broken bone, including being sad. “Exercise is the best cure for being depressed.” – I’m giving him this one even if I am the laziest girl around
• “You will go to Hell for lying.” – I now have the blessing of Jesus’ life for my sins so I know this isn’t the case but I will say this, it does get a kid to talk!
• “You’ll only do it once.” – this one I use for my kids. Hey, if they won’t listen when I tell them the asphalt is hot and they needs shoes…..they’ll only do it their way, once. You do have to use this with caution though. It can be said that a kid will learn not to play with the alligator once…..after that, he’ll have to just look at it because he won’t have any hands.
• “Stop the crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” – okay, I admit it……I’ve said this to my kids. Not the proudest moments but hey…..I can think up some really good reasons for crying and not being able to watch Toy Story for the 11th time in a row…..not one of them!
• “Get up, it’s 0600 and it’s time to (insert activity here).” – this was used for everything from , tennis practice, water skiing before school, picking up rocks or black walnuts if we were in trouble, you name it, 0600 was the time it was going to get done. UGH! Now do I do this to my kids? Ummmmm, NO! I don’t even know what 0600 looks like unless we’re leaving for a new  destination or we’ve been up all night on a watch.
• “You can want in one hand and pee in the other. See which one you get quicker.” – I use this so often that my kids have now learned not to say “want”.
• “Give it your best” – this was for everything. EVERYTHING and yes I will fully admit, I expect this from my kids too. Set some high expectations and you’d be surprised what kids can accomplish.
• “Vote straight Republican.” – that’s what he said when he was with me for my first Presidential Election. I voted for Ross Perot, he wasn’t happy. (I’ve learned my lesson now, Pops!)
• “I love you” …….nope. This one was a trick one. My dad was not known for being affectionate when we were growing up. He is more now, maybe his heart attack gave him perspective, huh Pops? But even if he didn’t say it, we knew he did. And now he says it a lot. I love you too Pops.

So who is my dad?

He’s a veteran, a military school graduate and was a volunteer EMT for the county where we grew up.


He’s an adrenaline junkie (although he has slowed down some…..some)


He can be a softie but he is never to be underestimated and you DO NOT want him on your bad side.


He was a coach, a pilot, a captain.



He was a successful business owner:


Lifetime Custom Boat Trailers

Hwy 13 Boat Dock

He’s a very talented tennis player – ranked Number 2 in the over 70’s for all of New Zealand. After his heart attack, he was back on the court before anyone even missed him!


He’s a grandpa and he’s a father. Looking at all this, I’d say he’s accomplished a lot over his years. He’s made a difference in my life. I think I’m a better person because of him –
So thank you Pops! Happy Father’s Day to my original Captain. I love you.
~Mimzie