After 20 minutes of following the boat and playing with the shark-like keel underneath, they disappeared to head back out the river toward the Atlantic. That’s the earliest we’ve seen them as they usually arrive in late June. In the old days, they would come in only as far as Goodwin Island and not until late August. Global warming has heated up the river. 
Everyone was careful not to drop their camera/phone into the drink, which reminded Art of his previous experience. “I was in a kayak in Florida, north of Orlando, when I stopped to take a picture of an alligator. I accidentally flipped the kayak and went overboard. I lost my car keys and wallet with $800. But I managed to save my phone. It worked, but I had to get the port replaced for $100. I wondered what the alligator would do with my car keys.”
The magnificent and unexpected drama of the dolphins led Art’s pal Mark Richie to recall another dramatic moment at sea. “We took an evening sail on one of those big windjammers. It was on a river in Connecticutt, not the Connecticutt but maybe the Mystic. We were done for the evening and coming into port when the crew produced a small cannon on the deck. The captain positioned it aimed toward short and braced it for the recoil. ‘Watch this,’ he said mischiefly. Then he fired the cannon and it made a loud boom, setting off all the car alarms in the parking lot. It was a symphony of cacophony, and a symbol of American power at sea.”
Denis spent four days on the USS Eisenhower, the aircraft carrier notable for the accidental break of the restraining cable a few years ago. “I was invited along with other parents because our son was serving on the ship. I was up there on deck observing a Navy ensign in white, who was coordinating all sizes of planes and jets out on the horizon for 50 miles. He was landing one every 30 seconds.”
We came up the coast to cover the Siege of Yorktown, then tacked under the Coleman Bridge toward the submarine in dock at Naval Weapons. Denis deftly zig zagged under the span. 
Dan Reece and Shannon recalled the time they took their mom’s boyfriend rafting on the Colorado river in an aluminum jet-like boat. We warned him it would be bumpy and wet, but he said, ‘Oh sure, let’s go.’ When we hit the rapids he freaked out and actually passed out. Eight other people on the boat were alarmed. The crew turned the boat around to take him back only 30 minutes into the 90-minute ride. As soon as the captain decided, he came to. We don’t let him on boats anymore, or elevators for that matter. He’s 75.”
Jaclyn Mungo of Hampton took her husband Joel sailing on his 40th birthday, and he picked up the sailing concept quickly. “It’s like drafting, which I do riding my bike. I used to ride the Encampment Trail around Yorktown. I’d get on at Five Forks and ride 30 miles. I can see now from the water where the battlefield is, behind the trees. I stopped riding the trail because it has too many cobblestones, which messes up my wrists.
“Before riding, I check the wind at the top of the trees to see which way it’s blowing and whether it will help me or hurt me. The wind behind me definitely helps. I can estimate my ETA within four minutes based on the trees. I typically ride 20 miles a day, or 40 if it’s a good day. I had rotator cuff surgery recently and it killed me to see all this good weather go to waste.” (Dolphins!)
We set out to prove that dogs on the boat attract dolphins during the summer.
Dolphins! recounts a late-season show of 10+ dolphins that lasted 35 minutes long, a record. Let’s go sail.
Sailing to North Carolina recounts the estuary history and talks of three sailing towns as possible venues for Let’s Go Sail.