Dolphin jumps into boat in ICW

[DrRalph]

Wow, a poor guy and his wife were putzing along in their 18-foot boat in the ICW near New Smyrna Beach when a 400-pound dolphin jumped into their boat:eek:! Click here (http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD04101008.htm).

[BahamaAngie]

OMG!!! Thank God, it was NOT a shark like the article says sometimes happens! WOW! What an adventure that was!

[SamFamAustin]

I dunno, BahamaAngie, those juvie, horny male dolphin are pretty frisky critters. :eek:

I see them in the water and it's like Monty Python: "Run Away!" Most sharks less than 5 or 6 feet, they're pretty docile; I swim with them all the time. -sammie

[theKurp]

After beating New England and then San Diego, nothing a dolphin does surprises me anymore.

[SamFamAustin]

After beating New England and then San Diego, nothing a dolphin does surprises me anymore.

Them juvie, horny male Dolphins are doing good this year? Gosh that didn't even appear on my radar screen - they've been terrible for years! Hate to have one jump in my boat though - some of them are well over 300 pounds fer sure... :D

[BahamaAngie]

Those are the kind that look like they are dancing backwards on the water? My husband and friends went kayaking with them in the Big Island by Captain Cook's. They didn't look that large where I sat on land with a camcorder. Would've scared the hell out of me!!!!

[SamFamAustin]

Hmm, I can't say I seen them tail-walk backwards except at the Shamu park but yes, bay and ocean dolphins - two different breeds - can be quite beefy even as babies, and incredibly strong. They are mammals and are so "bad" they can run off a pack of big sharks no problem.

If you happen to see dolphins "corralling" fish in a feeding frenzy, please avoid them. I can't believe somebody was so silly as to drive right into a pod of dolphins feeding rampant on a school of mullet and sea trout.

It is the Atlantic Sturgeon and Chinese Carp that are known as jumpers that can smack people in boats pretty bad. Normally a dolphin would never do this. I think we have a wayward male dolphin here, as that is highly unusual. More typcial is they feed and get run over by a boat propeller.

Remember the Sturgeon General?
sammie :)

[JJ]

I have seen one tail walk backwards in the wild in Choctawhatchee Bay. It could have been an escapee from the Gulfarium (in Ft. Walton Bch., FL). Have also had them do some jumps next to the boat on the Indian River Lagoon over by Titusville. Very cool, and having seen that, I can certainly see how one would accidentally end up in a boat. But after that stingray incident that killed the lady in the Keys, it is very scary. A friend of mine was badly hurt when he was cruising along and then hit in the chest by a leaping mullet.

[BahamaAngie]

Geez, we are all going to need police vests when we go boating!

[SamFamAustin]

The issue with jumping fish is mainly small open boats. The larger ones are fine, like Ralph's Attitude with a windshield up front and an enclosed rear cockpit. Then I consider that nobody has really reported a "jumper" landing on deck in the Bahamas ... mostly Florida for some odd reason. Those instances are about as common as getting struck by lightning, which is extremely rare. I might feel a little weird about going 55 miles an hour in a go-fast boat though ... even a small mullet would hurt like the Dickens! -sam

[Gayleupstairs]

DO NOT - I REPEAT - DO NOT - GO ON VACATION WITH THIS COUPLE - even to Abaco! First a brake line failure - then a power line over the road impeding a car in front of them - and THEN a dolphin over the bow of an 18 footer -

"If it weren't for bad luck - I'd have not luck at all!"