Interacting with a dolphin

My older sister has wanted to "swim with dolphins" for her whole life. At Sea World they let you "interact" with a dolphin and she decided that was close enough. And even though I had swam with a dolphin in a past life while on a cruise (the whole 'dolphin licking' incident that some of you may have heard about), I decided to join in.

Here is a picture of the interaction area as we were waiting to be called in. Turns out the trainer we'd get paired with is the one on the top - Mary. (Odd coincidence that we got the red-head, huh? No matter what I do, can't seem to get away from red heads.)



The only thing more fun than trying to get in and out of a wet suit? Trying to get yourself in and out of a wetsuit while also helping your two nephews get in and out of their wetsuits. It was quite the adventure. After a brief lesson and a not-so-brief prying yourself into a wetsuit session, we got split up and got to meat our trainer (Mary) and our dolphin (Ripley). Ripley was quite the ham...she was a squeaker! We got to do some signals as a group:








(Admit it, that is pretty darn cool!)

And then took our turns doing individual signals. I got to throw the fishing line out there (ignore the fact that Ripley is watching Mary and not me...I hadn't casted yet...oh well, at the time it felt like I was doing it!):


and reel her back in (see, Ripley was watching me at that point!):



We got to play relay and run her back and forth to each other with Ripley acting as the baton:



And we all got to have a splashing competition with her:

Trust me on this one -- don't get into a splashing competition with a dolphin, even if you have them outnumbered 5 to 1.





We all took a turn doing a glamour shot and kissing her:



And a group shot to end with:



All-in-all, it was a very unique and memorable event. Was it worth the money or freezing your cajones off in the really-really-really cold water and losing a splash-off with a dolphin? Probably. Since you can't really put a price on playing with a dolphin and after a while your teeth stop chattering.

As for my sister, she got to have her dream come true and hang out with a dolphin for a while...so how can you say it's not worthwhile? It was definitely a "live over" day -- you know a day that you want to live over and over.

This one is for Barb

It's been a while since I've done any beaver hat updates. I was saving it for a fun event. So, on my first trip to Sea World San Diego, I decided to bring it along. Here are the highlights of the day. (I was even sporting one of my TRY shirts as a tip of the cap to the folks back east.)

A tribute to my past as a dairy farmer:



Hanging loose, surfer style:



A guest appearance in the hat by my little sister:



Stopping to smell the flowers:



And the beaver stopping to smell the flowers:



Getting a little wild, in the polar bear cave:



A tribute to Cherney's "construction worker" photo from LMCO. Do I look like authorized research personnel, to you? And I get a little scared sometimes when I see just how much the beaver hat and I look alike. (No wonder I've spent a lifetime being picked on about my teeth.)



And the shot you saw before...at the manatee rodeo. That manatee was hot! I burned my thighs a little on that one. No wonder manatee riding hasn't caught on.

Sea World miscellaneous

Going to Sea World sparked a debate. What is better/worse for the animals? Being in a zoo or being at Sea World. On one hand, the zoo at least attempts to keep the animals wild and doesn't let people fawn all over them. But there are the small cages and the fact that most animals in a zoo don't seem to happy. So, on the other hand, you have Sea World, who exploits the animals, lets them get fawned over by people, but man do those animals seem happy when they are doing tricks! So, its a pickle. Teach the animals to be a bunch of beggers or keep them more in their natural state?







Anyway, since you can feed the dolphins at Sea World -- why not do it. They are trained to come up to you, let you pet them a time or two and then open their mouth and get some fish. So, when you get them to come over and you don't actually have fish to give them. Well, they seem a little disappointed in you. And you can't help but feel a little guilty.

And a lesson for all you beginners out there. Do not splash your hand in the water. They are trained to come over to an outstretched hand, held flat over the water:



And as I said, you feel all cool that you get one to come over and then you have to deal with this...them pathetically holding their mouth open because they expect some fish. And you don't have any left, because it's 6 fricken dollars for three of them and you can't afford to keep feeding them. So what do you do? You point at the dolphin and in your best helmet voice, you say: "FOOLED YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FELL FOR THAT!" Good times.

Part 1 of the flurry of photos

Since its quite obvious that I'm incapable of updating a blog in a timely basis...below are three quick entries that I worked on during the Super Bowel, highlighting some of my favorite pictures from January. Hopefully I get another entry or two up this week, with more pictures and more of a story. But as I've shown in the past -- don't be surprised if I don't get to them for a while -- but they'll get up there eventually.

-Tbone

Sea World - Dolphin Show

The dolphin show was remarkable...I can't fully talk about it unfortunately, so I'll just show the crazy high jumps that the dolphins can do. I'm shocked...I swear that rope is 12-15 feet above the water level and the flag was even higher. (But that was a straight up and down jump, so not quite as difficult.)

I hope these photos can do justice to how crazy high these dolphins were jumping -- click on the photos for the full effect.

Saying hi to the crowd:


A dolphin pulling the lowered rope down to be silly:


Dunkin clearing the rope during my first time viewing the show:


My second viewing of the show -- might have been Dolly this time?


And one of those two (Dunkin or Dolly) touching the flag during my second viewing of the show:

Sea World - Shamu

I was right there! Seriously, the closest killer whale was about 15 feet away. It was amazing to see them from that vantage point.



My view:


My sisters view of the same moment from safely outside of the splash zone:


My view across the stadium to the main stage:


Upper view of the trick they were demonstrating that morning. (Shamu spinning in place.)

Sunsets

Some sunsets and (and moon rises) from January.