I don’t usually carry a camera when I commute…I wish I did more often, but it is one extra thing to worry about. Today, though, I had some time on my hands and I wanted to snap a disturbing photo to share with you.
Before that, though, I got a couple shots of something most of us don’t get to see very often on our commutes. We’re used to seeing cars, buildings and the like, but when was the last time you saw a dolphin on your commute?!?
Just a few blocks from where I work is the Tampa Convention Center, home of the fabled (and way behind schedule) Tampa Riverwalk. This section of the Riverwalk is at the confluence of the Hillsborough River and both Seddon and Garrison Channels. I was standing at the seawall, catching my breath and getting a drink of water when I saw a couple of huge splashes. I whipped out my camera just in time to capture a young Tursiops truncatus, the Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin, chasing a fat mullet…
You can see him just to the right of the red arrow:
And here he is ducking under the edge of the seawall:
How cool is that? There were at least three others feeding in the area, but my batteries died on me so I didn’t get shots of them. I’ll go back, though…it was exciting to see such beautiful creatures mere feet away from me!
After that, I took a spin over to Tampa General Hospital, where a crosswalk sign caught my eyes a few months ago. Within days of the installation of this sign, I noticed that it had some damage done to it. Since then, the damage has only gotten worse:
Yeah, that’s right: cars keep driving OVER this sign! This sign is placed squarely in the middle of a well-trafficked crosswalk that separates the hospital’s parking garage from Davis Islands, where there are a number of hospital-affiliated offices. It’s a surprise that no one has gotten creamed by a vehicle here; if motorists can’t avoid a bright green warning sign, what’s to stop them from hitting a person?
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