Picture this: You're relaxing on your boat, watching the sun set, when you see a shimmering silver crescent leap out of the turquoise waters of the Gulf. It's a playful bottlenose dolphin, and the sight of it makes you giggle like a little kid. You're smiling just imagining it, right? 

Well, lucky for us, you're more likely to spot one in our region than in many other Florida cities. A new analysis from BoatBooker, a boat-tour booking website that allows users to find, compare and book boating trips, shows that Holmes Beach is the sixth-best place to spot dolphins in the U.S.—and it's No. 1 on the Gulf Coast.

BoatBooker analyzed documented 243,809 bottlenose dolphin sightings from OBIS-SEAMAP, a scientific database maintained by Duke University’s Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The full list comprises 365 coastal locations, with Buxton, NC, taking the top spot. (Anna Maria Island and Siesta Key Beach ranked No. 14 and No. 16, respectively.)

Our local dolphins are a well-documented bunch. In addition to the Duke/NOAA data, the 170 dolphins that make their home in Sarasota Bay are studied as part of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP), the longest-running wild dolphin study in the world. Their territory ranges from the southern edge of Tampa Bay to Terra Ceia Bay to the Manatee River to the north tip of Anna Maria, then southward to the Venice inlet, and it's possible dolphins began using Sarasota Bay thousands of years ago when it formed and became suitable habitat. Sarasota Bay dolphins have become a reference population for other programs around the world, thanks to the SDRP's data. 

Seeing dolphins in the wild is an experience that never gets old, whether you're a longtime local or a new visitor. We don't really need another excuse to be surprised and delighted by them—but it's nice to know we have one.