Ken Johnson was taking some new paddlers out for a kayak trip on Corpus Christi Bay and I decided to join them.  We met at Ken's at 7:00 am hoping to get out before the wind and temp came up.  However, with loading kayaks and getting gear together for 3 paddlers who did not have their own stuff we did not get down to the water until 8:00 am.  Ken had to do some last minute repair to the backband on one of the kayaks on the beach and give out some basic paddling instruction before we got started so we kind of got separated at launch.  Despite almost no wind there were some small waves which when refected off the nearby bulkhead made it interesting for our new paddlers.  Just as we all got together there was this "swoosh" right next to my kayak.  I knew it was a dolphin, but did not see it.  Before I could get the camera out it surfaced within 3 ft of my kayak, but only for a second.  Kathy, Phyllis, and Tim got a couple of sightings, but Pat and Ken at the rear did not see it.  As soon as I made the mistake of getting the camera out, it went away.  We paddled south along Ocean Drive for 30 minutes until Phyllis and Kathy started to feel a little tired.  The wind was picking up and they wanted to be sure they would get back so we turned back to the north.  When we got back to the launch, Phyllis and Kathy decided to call it a day and Ken left to take their kayaks back to his house.  Tim, Pat and I decided to paddle around the breakwater and over to the ship channel and then back to the L-head where Ken was going to pick us up.  At the ship channel we saw one of the huge military transports coming into port.  Tim got out into the middle of the channel for a better view and was quickly swarmed by a helicopter and an armed Zodiac.  He quickly retreated to the side of the channel and we sat and watched the transport go under the Harbor Bridge before heading back to the L-head.  A short, but very nice trip with an interesting view of one very big ship.