Good Luck Dolphins

I went out surfing last week in Venice with a new surfer girl. Jillian is the niece of a friend and was visiting from the East Coast. She's a teen and had taken some surf lessons, popping up on her soft board in the white water for a few days. The water was pretty flat on the morning we met for our surf and she was sleepy-eyed and quiet, saying only that she wanted to chill on the beach for a while. I convinced her that we should paddle out past the breakers and see what we might catch. The waves were few and far between, but the water was warm and it was a pretty morning. Then, up popped the head of a sea lion within feet of us--and this woke Jillian up fast. Shortly after that, we spotted dolphins and and she was all smiles. Me, too; I never tire of seeing dolphins out in the water. I told her that I believe it's good luck when you see dolphins swim by. Is that true? she asked. I told her I made it up but believed it. "Well, I'll bet it's good luck somewhere," she said. Good answer. I agreed and told her that it was good luck in California if you saw a dolphin in the water. . . The photo above comes from Lisa Denning, whose gallery of dolphins can be found here. --Stef McDonald