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Dog meets dolphins on a St. Augustine Eco Tour

There are lots of ways to bond with your dog -- cuddling, playing fetch, going for a walk. But there's nothing quite like doing something outside the norm and experiencing something that's new for both of you.

St. Augustine Eco Tours takes guests on a trip through the fragile ecosystem of the Matanzas Estuary. The tour group offers guided tours with boats, catamarans and even kayaks. Each tour is guided by a well-trained naturalist. The goal of St. Augustine Eco Tours is to show people the natural world of St. Augustine and how important it is to keep it pristine.

And your dog can tag along.

I didn't know how Lulu would handle being on a boat. She wasn't a fan of the water. I bought her a life vest but Captain Zach McKenna said it wouldn't be necessary.

Lulu was fine getting on the dock until we got to the boat. Then she froze, her paws splayed out. The deck was crooked and the water was so close that it freaked her out (I told you she wasn't a fan). Capt. Zach helped me pick her up and put her in the boat.

Turns out Capt. Zach was right. The boat, the Cetacea, was perfectly safe for Lulu, with an inflated bulkhead that was high and sturdy. The Cetacea is a rib rigid hulled inflatable boat and used to be used by the Secret Service.

We departed from St. Augustine Marina and headed north, past the Castillo de San Marcos and out toward the Atlantic Ocean. The water was calm, there was a fair wind and the sky was a brilliant blue.

Bring a really good camera! Photo courtesy of St. Augustine Eco Tours.

 We started relatively slow, watching for different estuary residents -- birds, turtles, manatees, jellyfish. But we were lucky this trip. There's always a 50/50 chance that you'll see dolphins. We were surrounded. It's important to keep a distance from wild dolphins so we don't disrupt their movements. But we could see the pods, and when we stopped the boat, Capt. Zach would drop a device into the water and we could hear the dolphins moving around us.

 
Lulu watched it all from a safe distance inside the boat. She didn't get up on the edge to look into the water, even when we weren't moving. But you could see she was fascinated. Her nostrils flared in and out as she tried to smell everything. Her ears flapped in the breeze as the Cetacea picked up speed and headed into the Atlantic. I held on to the seat for fear I might fall off as we flew across the water, but Lulu did just fine.

On the way back though Capt. Zach stopped the boat and fished out a cannonball jellyfish. It's a big bulby looking thing, and it doesn't sting but it is a bit slimy. Inside there's a spider crab, a tiny creature that has had a symbiotic relationship with the jellyfish for centuries. And oh, yeah, they are eaten all over Asia.

St. Augustine Eco Tours' Dolphin and Nature Tour:
$40 / Adult
$35 / Kids ages 3-12
$15 / Infants 2 years and younger
$199 for PRIVATE tour (can bring up to 6 guests)

Tours take off from St. Augustine Marina every day. Each tour is guided by a well-trained naturalist. The goal of St. Augustine Eco Tours is to show people the natural world of St. Augustine and how important it is to keep it pristine.

For more information, call 904-377-7245 or go to the St. Augustine Eco Tour website.

Frazzled Friday: Needing some peace

Hey all! I've been quiet for the most part around here. It's been a crazy month. I am feeling stretched a bit thin. I will try to explain it all this weekend.

For now though, I could use some of that serenity I got from St. Augustine. So here's Lulu back on the boat, as we flew through the Matanzas Bay. Look how happy she is. I hope it brings you peace too.

Serenity on St. Augustine Beach: A #RecipeforMoments *SPONSORED*

Our story is a part of the #RecipeForMoments blog hop hosted by BlogPaws. Link up below to share your story of the bond you and your pet share. What do you think your pet feels in your special moments? Five random U.S. winners who link up their blog post will win a Nature’s Recipe® lightweight collar camera to capture special moments from their pet’s point of view. See BlogPaws for official rules and details.

. . . . . . . . . . . . 

For me, no trip to St. Augustine Florida is ever complete without one sunrise. 

Sunrise on Matanzas Bay in St. Augustine, 2012.

But this time, things would be different. I had Lulu with me during my trip this past week, and since she'd never been to a beach before, and I hadn't been to St. Augustine Beach yet, I decided to rise early and try to catch the sunrise there.

 

The pier at St. Augustine Beach.

St. Augustine Beach, like most St. Johns County beaches, allows leashed pets. But I didn't know how Lulu would react. The only water she seemed to enjoy being in were puddles -- especially muddy ones. She shied away from the lake at Fleet Peeples dog park in Winter Park, and she only stepped into the little plastic pools at Dr. Phillips Park when she needed to cool off. How would she take to an ocean of water?

We found a parking spot near the pier just after the sun rose. Dogs aren't allowed on the pier, but we found a sort of staircase of tightly packed sand under the pier and made our way onto the dunes.

 
Lulu was intrigued by the layer of shells that made up our first steps. She crept slowly onto the cool, tan sand, her prints leaving deep marks. Once she got her bearings we made our way (slowly!) to the shore. 

It wasn't long before Lulu found dogs to bark at: A man walking two dachshunds. Another man walked a black lab in the opposite direction of us. But I used the waves to distract Lulu. If she got closer, it meant she'd have to watch the water. For her it was a torturous way to get her to stop barking, but it worked.

 

Eventually I sat at the waters edge, but Lulu was too intrigued to sit with me: the smells, the groups of seagulls bunched up nearby, the sound of the waves, the open scenery with amazing vantage points. 

I meanwhile listened to the waves. A friend of mine says a day on the water adds a year to your life. Surely it must work for both dogs and humans, right?

Finally, I decided that Lulu would have to get her paws wet. I pulled off my socks and shoes and crept closer. Lulu followed. She trusted me, the poor pup, and I was leading her astray. Every time a wave came by, she was able to scoot away.

But soon, a great wave crashed to the shore, and the cold foamy water slid up past my feet and onto hers. She wasn't happy, but she didn't try to run either. 

 
The great experiment over, we began to trudge away from the water's edge. I watched our foot prints, and I knew that long after they washed away, those prints would be there forever.

Nature's Recipe is sponsoring this post and a contest. Share your #RecipeforMoments in our special blog hop and enter to win a lightweight collar camera for your pet. Winners will be drawn randomly on March 3, so enter today!

 This post is sponsored by Nature’s Recipe on behalf of the BlogPaws Blogger Network. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Nature’s Recipe For Moments on behalf of Nature’s Recipe, but we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers. Nature’s Recipe is not responsible for the content of this article.

PHOTOS: Pet-friendly St. Augustine -- A taste

We've been pretty quiet all week, and with good reason. We've been on an adventure in the oldest city in America: St. Augustine, Florida.

We'll be talking more about St. Augustine in the coming weeks, but for now, I just want to show some pictures of our trip. Just a taste.

The new St. Augustine Baywalk was created as part of the restoration of the St. Augustine Sea Wall. Pets are allowed on the Baywalk, which gives a great view of the marina.

 

Small pets are allowed on the Galeon San Pelayo, a full restored Spanish galleon that will be docked at the St. Augustine marina until June. It holds an exhibit about the founding of St. Augustine. The galleon actually SAILED from Spain to come here.

 

Lulu gets a treat outside the Spanish Military Hospital Museum. The museum is pet-friendly, and gives a good idea of what health care was like centuries ago.

Lulu on board the Cetacea, a boat operated by St. Augustine Eco Tours. We got a guided tour of the Matanzas Bay, saw dolphins, met a Cannonball jellyfish and rode out into the Atlantic Ocean.

 Lulu met lots of dogs and did all right with most of them.

And we enjoyed dinner at Meehan's Irish Pub. They are extremely pet friendly, and the food was delicious.

Have you visited St. Augustine, Florida before? Tell me about your trip!