In Search of the Pink Dolphin: Part Deux

About a year after we moved to Lake Charles in 2007, I heard rumors, read news articles, and saw photos of a rare albino dolphin in the Calcasieu River ship channel in Cameron, Louisiana. Naturally, I’ve been curious and eager to see this animal ever since.

In May 2012, my kayaking club ventured to Cameron for a paddle. We saw lots of birds and shrimp boats. And even a few dolphins. But no pink dolphin. You can read about that trip here.

A few weeks ago, the club returned to Cameron, and they did see the pink dolphin on that trip! Naturally, I was in Pennsylvania.

This past weekend, Bob said it was a good time to go sailing. We’d wanted to take an overnight trip to Cameron for quite some time, so off we went. It took us about four hours to meander down the ship channel from Lake Charles to Cameron where the Calcasieu River meets the Gulf of Mexico. It looks like this most of the way.

Sea gulls and pelicans flock behind the shrimp boats. Easy pickins.

When we arrived at the inlet where we anchored for the night, a lone dolphin greeted us. No sign of the pink dolphin.

But we saw lots of jellyfish the size of turkey platters.

We saw the moonrise . . .

and the sunset . . .

and the sunrise the next morning.

Despite the gentle lulling sway and rock of the boat, I didn’t sleep well. We anchored across from an industrial port and heard the drone of diesel engines from big ships and the beep beeps of construction-type vehicles throughout the night.

The next morning, Bob and I naturally wanted coffee. We remembered to bring coffee, but we forgot the cream and sugar, and neither of us drink coffee black. Bleh. The only sweetener I could find on board was some M&Ms in a bag of trail mix. So I doled out about eight salty M&Ms into each cup and we poured the coffee over them. And stirred. I was temporarily baffled as to why just one of my M&Ms wouldn’t melt. 

Until I realized it was a peanut.

I can honestly say that was the worst cup of coffee I’d ever drank in my life.

Then I decided to fish for awhile.

It was a little foggy that morning.

A month or so ago, Bob and I bought fishing licenses. We have yet to catch a single fish. The thing is, I think most of the fish like to hang out in the shallows along the shoreline. Our boat drafts 5.5 feet, so we have to stay in deeper water. Excuses, excuses . . .

Once the fog burned off enough to see, we set off for the jetties. Now here, we saw countless dolphins! For some reason, dolphins love to swim alongside boats. These amazing creatures are playful, and apparently, it's fun.

Check out this video I took.

But no pink dolphin.

This is what it looks like when you are out in the middle of the Gulf.

Well, maybe not the middle. We were maybe a mile or so out. But we couldn’t see land.

So I held out hope that we’d see Pinkie on the way back through; but alas, we did not. So my quest continues.

If anyone wants to take me fishing where I can actually catch some fish, please let me know!

Fishing

A lot of people fish here in southwest Louisiana. After all, this is a “sportsman’s paradise.” And there certainly are a lot of places to fish -- countless rivers, bayous, lakes and ponds, the Gulf of Mexico. Not long after we moved here, we enthusiastically bought a couple new poles and our fishing licenses, thinking maybe the fishing bug would bite us. But we haven’t used them much. At all. I’m not all that interested in fishing. Not lately anyway. But I have such fond memories of fishing with my dad when I was a little girl. We lived in southwest Pennsylvania, so we’d fish in lakes or small cascading streams. I don’t recall fishing along rivers – maybe Dad was afraid I’d fall in. My grandparents, both sets, had ponds on their properties, and sometimes we’d fish there. I have no photos of me fishing with my father, but I do have the memories. One in particular stands out. I drew the pole up over my shoulder, cast out the line, and the fishing hook sunk deep into the seat of my father’s pants. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Or run. I recall the event as being hysterically funny, though it may not have been at the time.

All this comes to mind because this past weekend was a “free fishing weekend” in Louisiana. Which means we could legally fish without a license. Since mine had long since expired, it seemed like something I should take advantage of. I wanted to catch some reds – they’re so good on the grill. So we bought some shrimp for bait and went down to the marina. I really wanted to catch a fish. Any fish. Just one fish. But I guess it was the wrong time of day. Or the wrong place. And we didn’t have a lot of time. The fish weren’t biting. Maybe next year.

Speaking of memories, here are a couple of my favorite photos of my sons fishing with my Grandpa Lowdermilk in 1999. The boys were five years old at the time.





And here they are fishing with my dad in 2006, a year before we moved to Louisiana.

Do you have any fun fishing memories?

Wishing my dad and all the dads out there a very Happy Father’s Day!