Touched By A Dolphin

About 9 miles down the road from where we are at Boot Key Harbor is the Dolphin Research Centre. It seemed like a good thing to do so we rented a car to go check it out. Since November we have been seeing lots of dolphins, sometimes leaping into the air and sometimes riding our waves, so we didn't know what we would think of dolphins in captivity. Many people recommended it though and that convinced us to give it a try. Good thing - it was a fabulous day. They really do a great job there and the staff all seem to be fully engaged and enjoying what they are doing. Of course a good part of the day is the entertainment of them presenting what the dolphins can do, flipping through the air and all that but they also spend a good effort at education on ecological factors for dolphins and other sea life as well as a focus on environmentally friendly practices in general. One of their philosophies is that if you care about something you will strive to protect it. And a day with the dolphins really builds that human-animal connection. A highlight for Christopher was to get up close and personal as part of one of the optional programs. We didn't know how he would react to getting so close but it would be worth the try. So he and Shirley went out on the little dock and waited for the instructions from the trainer for the two different dolphin interactions. The first was the swim pass touch. You lean over the water and the dolphin swims slowly by and you stoke its back. Christopher had a bit of trouble with the balance while leaning over with one hand but he got the hang of it. Success - "Oooooo!" ( I think you can see him saying that in the picture). The next was to shake hands face to face. Again the balance was difficult but he had warmed up to the whole thing and was able to do it properly. "Whoa!" "Cool". It wasn't long ago that he would have balked at getting into the same space as a large creature like a dolphin and here he was shaking hands. You should know as well, that Shirley was very brave too! She likes touching mammal skin. What a day!