Cayman Islands, 0600 hours, June 13:

Bill, Heidi and Rachel aboard; Ben had to fly to Montana for a week to finish a boat engine install.  I'll catch up with other news later, but this  astounding event requires immediate posting:

A dolphin has been playing with Act III for over 13 hours now.  We are anchored and when Rachel, working in the hammock on the bow, first saw him, he was slowly moving up and down our anchor chain to the bottom where it maybe stirred up food; he slinked up and down the chain, back and forth to the surface, misting us with his exhales as he reached  the surface.  How do we know it's a "He", you ask?  We know for sure because  after a half-hour of anchor-sliding, he hovered near the surface beside the chain, sidled over, rolled belly-up under the chain, and began to rub his large, extended bright-pink penis across the chain.   Over and over again he repeated this series of moves, pausing after each session to take frequent breaths (and have a smoke?)   At one point, he hooked his penis on the chain and pulled the bow of Act III about 4 feet to starboard.  Don't even think about trying this at home, guys!

This went on for over an hour, then when Studly (our name for him) ) had enough self-satisfaction he began to splash, frolic, and race toward us, making high-pitched noises and dolphin clicks, then turning on his side to stare at our reaction.  We got in the dinghy (no motor so we wouldn't hurt him with the propeller) and floated up to the bow.  Studly was  thrilled and surfaced over and over to us, allowing Rachel several pets on his head.  Careful pets, because he was making those big jaw-snapping clicks that we do not think are aggressive, but induce caution, nonetheless.   Next he began diving under the dinghy and bumping us heavily.   We came back aboard when it got  too dark to see much anymore (and we had some fresh Cayman Rum cake to test), and we heard Studly continue to blow around the bow; I came out to check on him when it got quiet and he breeched with a huge splash.  We figured he'd get bored soon enough. or at least go sleep or eat but....

He squeaked, bumped and slapped Act III at the bow all night, so vigorously that poor Rachel barely got any sleep in the V-berth.  Before Studly's appearance, we had thought to mosey around North Sound, Grand Cayman today to a new anchor spot, but we cannot bring ourselves to leave him.  So we're pinned here until the dolphin lets us go.  Rachel just went out in the dinghy again and Studly's so excited he spun bubbles around her, then leaped out of the water.

...At 0800 we donned masks and snorkels and went swimming with Studly, who mugged, jaw-snapped, clicked and squeaked for the camera.  We got out of the water about 30 minutes later; and our new friend, pleased with himself for calling us into the water, and clearly unimpressed with our aquatic skills, made a few more lazy circles around Act III and departed, after 15 hours.

It's the most amazing thing in nature we've ever experienced.

Check the Videos (and poke around my YouTube channel to watch some great music performed by  Polly Lorien)