Picture of the Day

[shadesong]

Elayna and Onyx!

First the negative, then the positive... Miami Seaquarium should be ashamed of itself. The whole place is run-down and crappy. They don't have *much*, and what they do have is often obscured by murky water. This is Miami. The ocean is right there. And you're supposed to be a world-class city. This is a third-world aquarium. So yeah. Pounding heat, poor organization, peeling paint; an aquarium that, to borrow mangosteen's turn of phrase, "time forgot, but entropy didn't."

Contrast this to entering the dolphin area. "This is a new building!" we were perkily informed numerous times. To which I say yeah, no shit. It's spacious and well-lit. It was honestly a mild shock going back and forth from the dolphin area to the rest of the Seaquarium.

Okay. Swimming with the dolphins. :) We received official Miami Seaquarium wetsuits and waddled out to orientation, where we learned very little that Elayna hadn't already known - but she has written papers on dolphin sociology. So. She was able to answer most of the trainer's questions, much to the delight of the trainer - and of everyone else, as she was clearly the youngest participant (there were two mid-teenage boys). She became the darling of a Dutch family in our group... there was, once we got dolphin exposure, a lot of "Let Elayna go first!" and "Oh, oh, let Elayna through!" (The patriarch of said family occasionally forgot that there was a shy little girl there - he was forcibly reminded by his daughters.)

Followed the trainers into the water... and met our dolphins. :) We worked primarily with Onyx and Echo, but also got to see Noel and Bimini after the "ride". We did pictures first - they have a set of poses. Kiss the dolphin, shake hands with the dolphin, hug the dolphin, okay, next! After they finished pictures, it was a lot of silly dolphin tricks - they made seagull sounds, they splashed us - and some trainer-tricks, having us tell the dolphins to do various sorts of flips via hand gestures. We got to rub and pet the dolphins. Elayna learned some new things about dolphin musculature.

And the ride!

The Dutch girls insisted that Elayna go first. She did the eyes-wide "Me? First?!?" thing, but had no time to object, as the trainer was already positioning her, and Onyx zipped alongside her, and like a natural, she let the dorsal fin slide into her hand and pull her along. :)

She was absolutely elated. Me too - that was fun. Fast, but fun. I managed a wave to the camera, but otherwise - just concentrated on the dolphin, lean and smooth and merry and strong.

We got to play with the dolphins some more after the ride - playing catch, rubbing their bellies. And then we emerged into the decrepit Seaquarium, blinking in the harsh light.

We want to do this again. :) At a better place - we'll save up for Discovery Cove or Pennekamp State Park next year.

Comments

[fmh.livejournal.com]

What an awesome experience for her. :)

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

BEAUTIFUL picture!

Having done Discovery Cove, I can not recommend it for the dolphin experience--though if you are interested in everything else they have to offer, that may make it more worth you while. Thing is, I did not care so much about the other stuff and for hundreds of dollars, would like to have had the option of spending more than a few minutes with the dolphins. There are other places that I have heard of though...gotta locate them again...we'll talk:)

[sdaisyk.livejournal.com]

When I went to Miami Seaquarium over 5 years ago (can't remember when) it was awesome. I think part of the problem now is that one of the hurricanes recently (a few years ago) did enough damage to the place that they had to shut it down for a while. I know they lost a portion of their animals in the storm. They probably were trying to open it again and did it too soon, before they could get it back to the shape that it was in before.

[kitteridge.livejournal.com]

It looks completely magical.

Not to put a damper on any of it, but there is some debate over the stress these kinds of experiences put on dolphins, and over whether it's abusive to expose them to so many strangers on a regular basis.

That said, when I decided I wanted to swim with dolphins I decided to go on a weeklong trip that allowed you to swim with wild ones, ones that would choose to swim with you or not. I remember it as utterly transcendent, but the pod only came to our boat one day out of the four we were on the ocean and our time with them was extremely limited.

So I'm not trying to wag a finger here, but I wondered if any of this had been part of the discussion to hang with the dolphins or not. Has Elayna done any study on the wild vs. captive dolphin element?

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

That said, when I decided I wanted to swim with dolphins I decided to go on a weeklong trip that allowed you to swim with wild ones, ones that would choose to swim with you or not.

*nods* That's the sort of thing I thought we were going to do, but my parents booked this instead. :(

Has Elayna done any study on the wild vs. captive dolphin element?

She has not - and that's a good idea for her next project!

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

I'm very happy you two had that experience! *hug*

[brycentara.livejournal.com]

We are saving up for the shark dive at Sea world for Christmas break when Nyssa will be 10. You have to be 10. She was so disappointed that she could not do it this summer. I made it up to her by taking her into the shark reef area at Typhoon lagoon at Disney.

[dragontdc.livejournal.com]

When I lived in Miami, the Seaquarium was shiny and state-of-the-art for such things. Of course, that was in the 1970s.

[butterflymama3.livejournal.com]

OMG, that sounds awesome - the part about swimming with the dolphins, not the run down aquarium part.

[puddin666.livejournal.com]

Oh my Gawd...
I have wanted to do that for as long as I can remember.
I will have to look up Sea World again and see if they do it.

Thanks for sharing the fun..

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

OH MY! That's a wonderful picture!

[mycroftca.livejournal.com]

I recall with glee the sense of wonder that forestcats and I enjoyed when we spent time with the dolphins in Mexico. Very cool!

[kimeepower.livejournal.com]

What a great experience. I did this in May at Discovery Cove in Bermuda. I don't know if it is the same in Orlando but the one in Bermuda said they can not let you "ride" them because of the dorsal fin, they think it is cruel. It seems like you got to spend a lot more time than I did. We got about 30 minutes in the water, but that included the 4 other people in my group alone time with them. So my total exposure time to a dolphin was about 6 minutes. Just saying that Discovery Cove may or may not be any better. Regardless it is an experience! My experience http://kimee.blog-city.com/dolphin_quest_bermuda_may_2007.htm

I want to go swim with the Belugas soon, there are right in CT, about 2 hours away, http://www.mysticaquarium.org/index.cgi/418