Dolphins!!

Yes, I know I'm not doing the events in order.

On the 9th day of our vacation, we went to a place called Discovery Cove. It's an extension of Sea World, and I thought it was nicer. Mostly because it was so quiet. We were going for a 30 minute dolphin swim, and while that might not sound like much, the place a bunch of other things to do for the day.

The pathway after you get your passes is very pretty. There is bamboo growing on either side (we saw a lot of bamboo down there) along with tall palm trees and other various plants that make it feel like a jungle. After eating a complimentary breakfast, we wandered over to a station with lockers, change rooms, and a place to get our wet suits/vests and bags of swim stuff. They acted as a really thin life jacket, but it worked pretty well. We had a few hours until our dolphin swim time, so we went over to a pool of water. There was a few islands, which you weren't allowed on, and what looked like a reef at the bottom, but from the shore, you couldn't really tell what else was there.

After we had picked a nice place with a few chairs, I checked out my gear bag. Inside was a mask, snorkel, and a pack of special sunscreen. We weren't allowed to bring our own sunscreen, because there could be chemicals in it that would hurt the animals. While I waited for my sunscreen to dry so I could start swimming, I heard Meghan call out. She was up to her ankles in water and just a short distance away from her, a manta ray three feet across glided by. I joined her, and noticed some smaller rays a little ways off and some yellow and blue fish swimming around.

I also noticed some thing else. The water was COLD. Ok, it wasn't that cold, but I still disliked it. I learned later that it was 75 Fahrenheit, which about as cold I can go if we are swimming in my pool at home. But nothing drives a girl on then being able to swim with rays. Once I got in there, it wasn't bad. I hardly had to kick, because of the salt water & the vest helped me stay afloat. Though keeping your mouth close was a good idea, partly because it was salt water, and partly because the coral had algae growing on it and little bits of it floating in the water. It tickled my lips.

Since we got there early, most people were still eating or checking out the other pool across the way (which was a much warmer swimming pool with a sand beach). So we didn't have competition for getting to the best spots. There were at least three different kinds of rays, spotted ones (like the one in Finding Nemo) blue ones with the same body shape, and pancake shaped ones that scooted along the bottom. We were able to touch them, sometimes the rays came so close we touched them without even trying. The touch is really hard to place. Kind of like rubber, but very slippery. We learned later that we weren't supposed to touch those rays, and there was a separate pool for touching smaller ones. Oops.

We did a full circuit of the pool. Dad showed me how to snorkel, but I wasn't very good at it. He also showed me a pelxi-glass wall in the part of the shallows which let you look in on sharks. At first glance I saw two or three nurse sharks at the bottom and a few other sharks swimming in the background that i could really make out. Suddenly a shark swam right by the glass. I think my heart skipped a beat. This was so cool! That was a black tipped reef shark, which was three or four feet long.

After swimming for a little less than an hour, I was kind of hungry and thirsty and I needed to get the taste of salt out of my mouth. Dad pointed me in the direction of the snack bar. See, with our passes came a free breakfast and lunch, plus unlimited access to the snack bar. I got some Oreos and a lemonade, and it felt kind of weird just asking for a drink and grabbing some cookies with out paying.

Then Mom came back from the lazy river. She told me it went through an aviary and had sunken things to look at. I was definitely hooked. Lyss was still swimming and Dad was resting in the sun while he waited for her, so Mom, Meghan and I went. It got to eight feet at deepest so it was an easy swim, and the warm pool water felt good after the chilly salt-water pool. We went through a waterfall (to keep the birds in the aviary) and I was surprised when a bird swooped right over my head! There were birds like king fishers flying above the stream, and we saw a peacock, some sort of ground fowl, and parakeets perched on branches. We passed under a bridge and I noticed a handler feeding the king fishers fish. She threw some in the air, and about half the time the bird caught it. If it missed the food, sometimes it dove to the water and picked it back up, but occasionally they didn't get the fish back. So there were some fish bits floating in the water. Yuck.

We went through another waterfall and passed by some sunken jars that looked they were from the Greek times by their shape, and a life sized cannon. After going through a small cave, we ended up at the start.

After a bit more of snacking, lazy river-ing and hanging around, it was time for our dolphin swim. We went over to the Starfish Cabana where we weer going to watch a short movie, get briefed on rules, etc. When we got there, we weer approached by a keeper. She told us that our swim time was being post-poned because it was spring and the dolphins were, uh, more interested in the other dolphins than doing what we wanted them to do. So, they were giving them all some alone time to calm down and give them a break, and we could come back in 30 minutes or so.

30 minutes later!

We watched a short video on dolphin, got briefed on the rules (listen to the trainer, touched the dolphin behind the blow hole only, things like that). Then we (us Glennie and four others) met our trainer who took us down to the water, which was the the same temperature as the ray tank. The pool was very big. There was a gate the was partly submerged on the side opposite us, with trainers on top. Past them I could see more pools for the dolphins to swim in. I say several fins cutting the water near the bridge, and I got really excited then. I'd never touched a dolphin, but I had touched a beluga before. Would this be similar?

The trainer told us that the dolphin we would be working with was named Copper, who was one of the younger dolphins. We waded out a ways and the trainer told us to get in a curve shape, close together so it would be easier to touch her. A dolphin longer than me swam up to us. She was a light gray with the naturally smiling face all dolphins have. She swam slowly past us and we stroked her softly. She felt like hard but smooth rubber, similar to a beluga and very distantly reminding of the sting rays. She came by for a few more passes before the trainer pointed out her blowhole. At a signal I missed, Copper made a high pitched squeak, followed by a farting noise. We all laughed at that. The trainer said, "Does anyone want to kiss her?" I put up my hand, and I came forward. The trainer should me how to lift her head up, I gave Copper a kiss. It was definitely the saltiest kiss I'll ever have.

After stroking her more, she started to get distracted. The trainer said that since she was the youngest dolphin, she had a short attention span. Plus she missed her mom. So Copper was sent off and a new dolphin was brought in. His name was Lester and it was surprising how different the two dolphins were. Lester was almost 40, so he had lots of scars from fighting with other dolphins, and he was much darker then Copper.

Once we had inspected Lester, me and Meghan followed another trainer out into the open water. We waited for a
bit, then Lester came swim up next to us. Meghan got to ride him back to Mom, Dad, and Lyss first, then I took a turn. My left hand held on to his flipper, and my right went on his dorsal fin. It was a very smooth ride, and I could feel the dolphin swimming through the water. The ride was way to short, but it was loads of fun.

Once everyone had gone on the dolphins, our swim time was over. For the rest of the day, we swam with the rays, went on the lazy river, ate strawberry fruit-sicles, and made sand-men (well, I did anyway). We also bought an underwater camera to use, and we got some good pics from that.

All in all, it was a terrific day! No long lines, not many screaming kids, and a maximum of one thousand people per day. A nice and relaxing time, with lots of water!