Hi everyone! I haven't wrote a blog for a few days now so I'll catch you up on what I have been up to.
Saturday I had my first class, which I though was going to be about research but instead it was about an organization called Seafood Watch. Anyone ever heard of it? If not, you should definitely look into it! This organization gives new updates everyday about the best Seafood choices to make. They base it off of how the seafood is caught, where it is caught, if it is overfished, if it was farmed, and much more. They do all the work for you so YOU can ensure you are making the best seafood choices when you purchase some from a menu or even by some from the store. They have a free app on smart phones which I have recently downloaded, but they also have mini brochures that get updated every 6 months so you can carry it around with you at all times. I highly recommend you all look into this and start making some SMART seafood choices :)
Okay, I'm done with my conservation talk now hehe. Saturday night I said goodbye to my good friend Lizzie who is now off to her next adventure, teaching marine ecology in the British Virgin Islands. It was sad, but we hope to meet again some day and definitely get a few dives in together.
On Sunday my landlord invited me to go boating with his family and close friends. They live in Miami, but they have another place down here that they stay at from time to time when it is not rented out. The house is literally right around the corner from my place except it is on the canal. We went to two different sites out in the ocean where everyone parks their boats, anchors, and basically BBQ's and relaxes in the water all day. It was a GREAT time! When we came back they cooked some burgers and we all just ate and swam in the canal channels. They were so nice to me and fed me all day long. I was so thankful that they invited me! They told me they would invite me to go boating in Miami some day soon (they live exactly an hour from here) and they also plan on coming down July 4th to watch the fireworks on the boat out in the water. They invited me to that to, so that is something to look forward too! :)
For Memorial Day I was kind of bummed I wasn't with my family relaxing by the pool, but I still had a good day. I had a great day at work (it's always a great day when you get to see and play with dolphins), and at night Holly, Christina and I got together to have a small cook out for ourselves. We had burgers, chips, and some fruit and hung out at their place all night. It was nice to do something different and we all three had a fun time.
Tuesday I went to work again only I was on fish duty so I had to get there an hour earlier. This time I felt much more comfortable, I actually can recognize which fish is which (there are nine different kinds and many of them look very similar) and the flow of things went much faster and smoother. I got to get in the water with the dolphins again yesterday and more and more I get to assist the trainers with different husbandry tasks which is always cool. I love knowing that they trust me to help them out. I figured it must be hard for them to have to constantly re-teach the interns every time they get new ones and I'm sure some people are better at different tasks than others so they have to be careful with us. However, we try our best and if there is ever anything we don't know how to do it usually just takes a little more practice and they completely understand that! I also had to give my first briefing to the public yesterday. Honestly, it was easier than I thought and I did pretty good. From here on it will only get easier too :)
Today was my day off. I tried to sleep in (although I can't sleep in past 8 now) and then I went to the gym. After the gym I went to Holly and Christina's pool in their little gated community. I was planning on tanning and getting rid of my shorts tan, but it was so hot I could only stay outside for an hour or so. Yes, I still have my shorts tan :(
Then I went and got a pedicure and came home and cleaned my place. I also made some yummy chicken salad (however, it tastes nothing like my mom's no matter how hard I try), so that will be yummy for lunch tomorrow! I have another class tomorrow and this time it really will be about research haha.
Tonight Christina, Holly and I are driving up to Homestead (which is about 40 minutes north) to go to Michael's so we can buy some crafts :) We're also going to have dinner at Olive Garden, since there is nothing like that here in the Keys. It will be fun to get out for the night!
I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and is having a good week as well. Bye, friends! :D
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Friday, May 25, 2012
Buggy day...
Hey everyone!
Since it poured yesterday all morning and then again later at night, I woke up to a lovely mosquito infested day. I had to get up an hour earlier today because I was scheduled for fish duty in the fish kitchen. Once a week I will have to do this. Myself and another trainer measured out all of the 9 different types of fish that each dolphin gets throughout the day and made all of their buckets. Each dolphin has a different diet depending on their needs. It was actually kind of fun :)
The rest of the day consisted of slapping myself and the other girls at work constantly throughout the day. I have never seen so many mosquitos at once. Usually as long as you put on some bug spray you are fine, but today the spray did not seem to help unfortunately. Now I feel itchy constantly and I always think there is one landing on me (yes, I am seeing things). Not to mention I know I'm going to look like I have major chicken pox in the morning!!
BUT...if I can have a day like I did yesterday everyday then I would sacrifice my body to the mosquitos from time to time ;) Yesterday was amazing!! The sister facility to Dolphin Cove, called Dolphin Plus, has a California Sea Lion named Wono and the trainer needed some more assistance in her training and asked us interns to go over there. She was adorable!! We didn't get to feed or touch her yet, he said we would be able to once we do a few more training sessions with him, but we got to see some of the cool behaviors she knows. Wono very recently had cataract surgery and can see just fine now, but before a lot of her behaviors were taught by voice instead of using hand signal. I thought that was pretty cool because even now that she can see she still knows the behaviors by voice. The trainer said we will get the chance to come back even more throughout the summer so I am very excited for that.
When we got back our trainers needed some help with the training of some of our dolphins so we got to get into the water again :) They were working on separating Samantha (mom) and Isaac (baby) during a training session. Since Isaac has been training and working the interaction programs he has never done one without his mom. We were put into the water to practice this. I was placed with Samantha and Alfonz and the other intern was placed with Isaac and Julie. It was interesting to see if Samantha was going to allow her baby to be trained without her, and she did! The interaction went great. I got to do things like a dorsal toe (holding onto the two dolphins dorsal fins while they glide me through the water), superman (where they push me through the water by my feet while I lay flat on my belly), and back pushes (where they push me through the water by my feet only I am laying on my back). They were all so much fun and I got to do them a bunch of times!! I even got to do other behaviors like rubs, kisses, telling them to speak, dance, spin, and have them jump over a pole. It was so much fun and was a great end to my day!!
Today I got to participate in the enrichment for the dolphins which is always fun. They like to keep the animals always guessing and excited so they will bring out a new toy or something fun for them to do almost every day. Today was "fishsicle day". We made ice cubes with little fish sticking out randomly (like a popsicle with fish in it) and through them into the lagoon for them to play with and then eventually eat. They loved it!! :)
Tomorrow I have my first class. Almost every Saturday the interns at Dolphin Cove and Dolphin Plus will meet up to take a class on research, training, or any other topics that have to do with the field. Tomorrow I will be learning about research, so I will let you all know how that goes.
OH! And everybody wish Emma luck, she will be learning how to use the bathroom on a toilet starting today. I ordered a kit and it just came in. It is designed to teach your cat how to use a toilet just a few steps at a time. It basically puts a litter box on the toilet and you slowly make holes until the hole is big enough that you can take it away. I REALLY don't want to deal with the litter box, so I am trying this out lol. She seems very smart so I think she will get it down.
For tonight I plan on watching movies in bed the rest of the night until I fall asleep. I am exhausted today! Getting up and hour earlier is really hitting me haha. Have a good rest of your night, friends!
Since it poured yesterday all morning and then again later at night, I woke up to a lovely mosquito infested day. I had to get up an hour earlier today because I was scheduled for fish duty in the fish kitchen. Once a week I will have to do this. Myself and another trainer measured out all of the 9 different types of fish that each dolphin gets throughout the day and made all of their buckets. Each dolphin has a different diet depending on their needs. It was actually kind of fun :)
The rest of the day consisted of slapping myself and the other girls at work constantly throughout the day. I have never seen so many mosquitos at once. Usually as long as you put on some bug spray you are fine, but today the spray did not seem to help unfortunately. Now I feel itchy constantly and I always think there is one landing on me (yes, I am seeing things). Not to mention I know I'm going to look like I have major chicken pox in the morning!!
BUT...if I can have a day like I did yesterday everyday then I would sacrifice my body to the mosquitos from time to time ;) Yesterday was amazing!! The sister facility to Dolphin Cove, called Dolphin Plus, has a California Sea Lion named Wono and the trainer needed some more assistance in her training and asked us interns to go over there. She was adorable!! We didn't get to feed or touch her yet, he said we would be able to once we do a few more training sessions with him, but we got to see some of the cool behaviors she knows. Wono very recently had cataract surgery and can see just fine now, but before a lot of her behaviors were taught by voice instead of using hand signal. I thought that was pretty cool because even now that she can see she still knows the behaviors by voice. The trainer said we will get the chance to come back even more throughout the summer so I am very excited for that.
When we got back our trainers needed some help with the training of some of our dolphins so we got to get into the water again :) They were working on separating Samantha (mom) and Isaac (baby) during a training session. Since Isaac has been training and working the interaction programs he has never done one without his mom. We were put into the water to practice this. I was placed with Samantha and Alfonz and the other intern was placed with Isaac and Julie. It was interesting to see if Samantha was going to allow her baby to be trained without her, and she did! The interaction went great. I got to do things like a dorsal toe (holding onto the two dolphins dorsal fins while they glide me through the water), superman (where they push me through the water by my feet while I lay flat on my belly), and back pushes (where they push me through the water by my feet only I am laying on my back). They were all so much fun and I got to do them a bunch of times!! I even got to do other behaviors like rubs, kisses, telling them to speak, dance, spin, and have them jump over a pole. It was so much fun and was a great end to my day!!
Today I got to participate in the enrichment for the dolphins which is always fun. They like to keep the animals always guessing and excited so they will bring out a new toy or something fun for them to do almost every day. Today was "fishsicle day". We made ice cubes with little fish sticking out randomly (like a popsicle with fish in it) and through them into the lagoon for them to play with and then eventually eat. They loved it!! :)
Tomorrow I have my first class. Almost every Saturday the interns at Dolphin Cove and Dolphin Plus will meet up to take a class on research, training, or any other topics that have to do with the field. Tomorrow I will be learning about research, so I will let you all know how that goes.
OH! And everybody wish Emma luck, she will be learning how to use the bathroom on a toilet starting today. I ordered a kit and it just came in. It is designed to teach your cat how to use a toilet just a few steps at a time. It basically puts a litter box on the toilet and you slowly make holes until the hole is big enough that you can take it away. I REALLY don't want to deal with the litter box, so I am trying this out lol. She seems very smart so I think she will get it down.
For tonight I plan on watching movies in bed the rest of the night until I fall asleep. I am exhausted today! Getting up and hour earlier is really hitting me haha. Have a good rest of your night, friends!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Dolphin Love
I had two great days at work on Monday and Tuesday (greater than usual) because I got to interact with the dolphins and receive some dolphin love :)
On Monday the interns and I had to take a quiz and I knew just about everything on it. I'm pretty sure we all did pretty well on it which is good! For the last swim/training session each intern was allowed to interact with the dolphins on the platform with the trainer. I got to play with the big boys, Kimbit and Alfonz. They are both 18 years old and they are the head of the pod in the lagoon. I got to do some back and belly rubs, have a dance and singing party with them, and even get some big boy kisses ;) It ended with them turning around and splashing the water hard at me with their tail flukes, let's just say I went home soaking wet!! LOL
That night Holly, Christina (two of the interns) and I got ready and went up to Sharky's for $5 burger night! We met my friend Lizzie there again and I introduced them to her. Now we are all sad that she is leaving on Sunday! :( She introduced us all to a lot of the people that work there and more of the dive staff. Pretty much everyone in the dive industry hangs out at Sharky's, especially for $5 burgers lol!
Tuesday I actually got to go into the water and played with some of my new friends! :) It was just Holly and I working and we were asked to get into the water to help one of the trainer's work on Isaac's training. Isaac is the 11 month old calf at Dolphin Cove. He was born June 1st of last summer and is already participating in interactions with his mom, Samantha. However, he still needs a lot of practice because he is still training on a lot of behaviors. Holly and I were asked to do some back rubs, hold the hoop for them to jump through, receive some kisses, and even sing and dance with them in the water (BTW, singing and dancing means they twirl in a circle making noises with their blowhole at the same time). Baby Isaac is soooooo cute, and so tiny in comparison to the rest of the gang there. I'm pretty sure I haven't mentioned this yet but there are 8 atlantic bottlenose dolphins at Dolphin Cove, 5 males and 3 females. As I said before, Kimbit and Alfonz are the big boys (18 and the only sexually mature males in the lagoon). Samantha, Isaac's mom, is 29 years old! She is the oldest of the group, but she is not "old". Dolphins can live anywhere from 35-55 years old, but there is a dolphin at Marineland who just celebrated her 59th birthday! :) Back to the dolphins at cove...Leo is almost 9 years old and was the first dolphin born in the lagoon. Elvis is almost 8 years old and he was the next calf born at Dolphin Cove. Nica is also turning 8 this summer. She has a really long rostrum (mouth/beak) and resembles a "super model" in the water. Julie is the youngest female at only four years old. Lastly, is baby Isaac who is the cutest little monster I have ever seen! :) I'm sure you will here more about all of them as I continue working throughout the summer.
Today was my day off and it was very productive. I got laundry done, went to the gym and did cardio, weights, and an hour of power yoga (which was much harder than I thought!!). I went grocery shopping, bought Emma a collar (which she hates) and a scratching post, cleaned my house, and wrote an outline on the briefing I will be presenting soon. By the time I was done with all of that it was only 3 pm and I had all this extra time to relax and catch up on my favorite tv series, Once Upon a Time. Now I am just relaxing with Miss Emma :)
I did take some pictures of the facility and some of the dolphins as well (FINALLY!). If you haven't seen them on my facebook yet, here are a few good ones. Have a great night, everyone! :D
On Monday the interns and I had to take a quiz and I knew just about everything on it. I'm pretty sure we all did pretty well on it which is good! For the last swim/training session each intern was allowed to interact with the dolphins on the platform with the trainer. I got to play with the big boys, Kimbit and Alfonz. They are both 18 years old and they are the head of the pod in the lagoon. I got to do some back and belly rubs, have a dance and singing party with them, and even get some big boy kisses ;) It ended with them turning around and splashing the water hard at me with their tail flukes, let's just say I went home soaking wet!! LOL
That night Holly, Christina (two of the interns) and I got ready and went up to Sharky's for $5 burger night! We met my friend Lizzie there again and I introduced them to her. Now we are all sad that she is leaving on Sunday! :( She introduced us all to a lot of the people that work there and more of the dive staff. Pretty much everyone in the dive industry hangs out at Sharky's, especially for $5 burgers lol!
Holly, Christina and I at Sharky's
Tuesday I actually got to go into the water and played with some of my new friends! :) It was just Holly and I working and we were asked to get into the water to help one of the trainer's work on Isaac's training. Isaac is the 11 month old calf at Dolphin Cove. He was born June 1st of last summer and is already participating in interactions with his mom, Samantha. However, he still needs a lot of practice because he is still training on a lot of behaviors. Holly and I were asked to do some back rubs, hold the hoop for them to jump through, receive some kisses, and even sing and dance with them in the water (BTW, singing and dancing means they twirl in a circle making noises with their blowhole at the same time). Baby Isaac is soooooo cute, and so tiny in comparison to the rest of the gang there. I'm pretty sure I haven't mentioned this yet but there are 8 atlantic bottlenose dolphins at Dolphin Cove, 5 males and 3 females. As I said before, Kimbit and Alfonz are the big boys (18 and the only sexually mature males in the lagoon). Samantha, Isaac's mom, is 29 years old! She is the oldest of the group, but she is not "old". Dolphins can live anywhere from 35-55 years old, but there is a dolphin at Marineland who just celebrated her 59th birthday! :) Back to the dolphins at cove...Leo is almost 9 years old and was the first dolphin born in the lagoon. Elvis is almost 8 years old and he was the next calf born at Dolphin Cove. Nica is also turning 8 this summer. She has a really long rostrum (mouth/beak) and resembles a "super model" in the water. Julie is the youngest female at only four years old. Lastly, is baby Isaac who is the cutest little monster I have ever seen! :) I'm sure you will here more about all of them as I continue working throughout the summer.
Today was my day off and it was very productive. I got laundry done, went to the gym and did cardio, weights, and an hour of power yoga (which was much harder than I thought!!). I went grocery shopping, bought Emma a collar (which she hates) and a scratching post, cleaned my house, and wrote an outline on the briefing I will be presenting soon. By the time I was done with all of that it was only 3 pm and I had all this extra time to relax and catch up on my favorite tv series, Once Upon a Time. Now I am just relaxing with Miss Emma :)
I did take some pictures of the facility and some of the dolphins as well (FINALLY!). If you haven't seen them on my facebook yet, here are a few good ones. Have a great night, everyone! :D
Welcome to Dolphin Cove :)
Well hello there!!
Just checking us out!
Sunday, May 20, 2012
First day off!
Well, I have had a great first 5 days working at Dolphin Cove so far, and today was my first day off! Even though it was nice to sleep in, I still wanted to be at work lol! I just love seeing the dolphins everyday and learning more and more about training. This week I got cleared on even more tasks and I'm almost finished with the phase 1 stage (there are three phases I need to be cleared on), which is very exciting. I am now cleared on more sanitary duties, and I have even started being cleared on some of the husbandry tasks that I am allowed to assist the trainers with. The way things work around the facility is getting much easier and I am getting more familiar with the schedule every day now. I am really enjoying myself, and I am still so excited for what more awaits this summer!!
For my day off today I got some cleaning done around my place and finally finished unpacking haha. Then, this afternoon I went diving again!! I went diving with one of my friends, Lizzie, who was actually my intern when I studied abroad last summer in Turks and Caicos. She now is working at a dive shop here called Ocean Divers. All of the staff and interns at Dolphin Cove get to dive at Ocean Divers for free which is awesome, so I'm definitely going to take advantage of that this summer.
Lizzie took me out on my first deep dive today, we went down to 92ft. We first hit the famous dive site here called the Spiegel Grove. It is an artificial wreck that was placed here for recreational diving back in 2002. Fun fact: it was originally placed on its side but a hurricane that hit in 2005 was powerful enough to completely flip it right side up! It is actually only off by a few degrees to being perfectly straight upward, that is AMAZING! The dive site is way below 100ft and the fact that a wave could flip this GIANT ship upwards just astonishes me. Anyway, back to my dive. I saw a small spotted eel, lots of fish, a few barracuda, and an ENORMOUS (probably over 100 lbs.) grouper that was just hanging out on the side of the ship. Lizzie has dove this site many times so she knows her way around, and she even brought me in through the vessel and I was actually inside part of the ship. She brought me in and out of some doorway areas, it was so cool! The only thing is inside of the ship some of the areas were very dark and we didn't have lights on us, so that kind of creeped me out lol!
The next dive we went to was a site called the Wreck of Benwood. This site is actually a natural wreck, however, a hurricane that hit had really thrown various parts of the ship all over the place so there are pieces of it scattered surrounding the main part of the ship. This ship was no where near as big as the ship at the Spiegel Grove, but there was a lot more life there. The coral was stunning as well, there was a lot of different sorts of brain coral. We saw a moray eel swim right in front of us, a large crab, and even a nurse shark! We got about 4 ft. away from the shark and then it swam away from us. There were all kinds of other fish that we saw and I took a ton of pictures of both dive sites so go look at my facebook! :)
The rest of my evening I spent with Lizzie and some of her friends she introduced me to at a famous restaurant here called Sharky's. I had a great time meeting new people and I even became friends with a lot of the staff that works at Ocean Divers! Tomorrow I have a quiz on the facility and some of the frequently asked questions from visitors. So tonight I'm just going to relax in bed and study until I fall asleep, which will probably be very soon lol. Diving makes you exhausted!!!
Okay, this time I REALLY promise I will get some pictures of my work and maybe even some for the dolphins for the next time I blog. However, I do have some good ones from my dives today. Good night my friends!! :)
For my day off today I got some cleaning done around my place and finally finished unpacking haha. Then, this afternoon I went diving again!! I went diving with one of my friends, Lizzie, who was actually my intern when I studied abroad last summer in Turks and Caicos. She now is working at a dive shop here called Ocean Divers. All of the staff and interns at Dolphin Cove get to dive at Ocean Divers for free which is awesome, so I'm definitely going to take advantage of that this summer.
Lizzie took me out on my first deep dive today, we went down to 92ft. We first hit the famous dive site here called the Spiegel Grove. It is an artificial wreck that was placed here for recreational diving back in 2002. Fun fact: it was originally placed on its side but a hurricane that hit in 2005 was powerful enough to completely flip it right side up! It is actually only off by a few degrees to being perfectly straight upward, that is AMAZING! The dive site is way below 100ft and the fact that a wave could flip this GIANT ship upwards just astonishes me. Anyway, back to my dive. I saw a small spotted eel, lots of fish, a few barracuda, and an ENORMOUS (probably over 100 lbs.) grouper that was just hanging out on the side of the ship. Lizzie has dove this site many times so she knows her way around, and she even brought me in through the vessel and I was actually inside part of the ship. She brought me in and out of some doorway areas, it was so cool! The only thing is inside of the ship some of the areas were very dark and we didn't have lights on us, so that kind of creeped me out lol!
The next dive we went to was a site called the Wreck of Benwood. This site is actually a natural wreck, however, a hurricane that hit had really thrown various parts of the ship all over the place so there are pieces of it scattered surrounding the main part of the ship. This ship was no where near as big as the ship at the Spiegel Grove, but there was a lot more life there. The coral was stunning as well, there was a lot of different sorts of brain coral. We saw a moray eel swim right in front of us, a large crab, and even a nurse shark! We got about 4 ft. away from the shark and then it swam away from us. There were all kinds of other fish that we saw and I took a ton of pictures of both dive sites so go look at my facebook! :)
The rest of my evening I spent with Lizzie and some of her friends she introduced me to at a famous restaurant here called Sharky's. I had a great time meeting new people and I even became friends with a lot of the staff that works at Ocean Divers! Tomorrow I have a quiz on the facility and some of the frequently asked questions from visitors. So tonight I'm just going to relax in bed and study until I fall asleep, which will probably be very soon lol. Diving makes you exhausted!!!
Okay, this time I REALLY promise I will get some pictures of my work and maybe even some for the dolphins for the next time I blog. However, I do have some good ones from my dives today. Good night my friends!! :)
Can you see the giant grouper to the right of the pic?
I took this while inside the ship
Me :)
Moray Eel
Nurse Shark
Brain Coral
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
First day at Dolphin Cove :)
Well, today was my first official day at Dolphin Cove. I will tell you all about how it went, but first I want to let you all know how my weekend has been so far!
On Saturday, my dad and I went scuba diving for the first time out here. It was our first time diving together and it was an absolute blast. We did two reef dives and saw various fishes that were beautiful and even a few sea turtles. Then, on Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day by taking my mom out to breakfast at one of the best breakfast joints in this small little town called Harriette's. It was delicious! Then my parents and I headed to one of the beaches here in the Keys. I have learned that the Florida Keys aren't much for beaches. All of them are made of rock so the only beaches that have sand are man made. They are pretty small beaches too, as most of the islands are surround by rocky reefs and mangroves. However, it was still enjoyable :) My dad and I even went snorkeling at the beach and saw a stingray, baby barracuda, a crab and all kinds of fish (and this was in 3-4 ft of water)! We had a great time :)
Monday morning we set out to find myself a little friend. We went right up the road to a small humane society and I adopted a 1 year old kitten. She is all white with a raccoon tail (like Billy's) and a brown and gray marking on her forehead. She is the softest cat I have ever felt, and has such a sweet and loving personality. I named her Emma :)
In the afternoon my dad and I went out again for another set of two reef dives. This time the visibility was even better than when we went on Saturday. The waters were bright blue and we saw much more sea life. A very large moray eel, a large sea turtle, a huge stingray, a small spotted stingray, and a ton of bright and colorful fish are some of the many things we saw. We even went to a dive site where there is a budda statue at the bottom with a legend that says you gain wisdom and knowledge by rubbing his head. Yes, we rubbed his head- but not his belly, because that supposedly brings upon you great fertility haha!
When I got home from the dive I had to shower and get ready really fast for my orientation at Dolphin Cove. They showed myself and the other interns around the facility, gave us our work shirts and badges, had us fill out some paperwork and went over some of the rules and duties we will have. Let me tell you...I was very overwhelmed!!
That leads me to today, my very first day! Today was more of an observational day for us interns. We watched the girls get some of the fish buckets ready and then right away headed out to the lagoon to watch the first morning training/food session. It was so neat, the tricks that these dolphins know how to do is amazing! The facility is very structured and truly focuses on the care of the dolphins more than anything. They have set times for all of the feeding and training sessions and try to bring as much excitement to the dolphins as they can to always keep them guessing and not bored. I also watched all of the cleaning duties I will be partaking in for the next three months. SO MUCH CLEANING...but you have to start somewhere :) They are very strict about the sanitary and cleaning procedures for the health of the mammals. For example, EVERY SINGLE SCALE, no matter how small, has to be removed from the buckets after washing them so no bacteria can grow. This seems easy, but those little suckers hide from you! They say it gets easier with time and practice, actually...that is what they said to me today for pretty much everything lol! The buckets are cleaned at least 3 times a day, the kitchen is cleaned twice a day, the wet suits and vests are cleaned, and much much more. If any of you want to go to a healthy and clean facility, come visit me at Dolphin Cove :)
Throughout the day, along with cleaning, learning about the facility, and watching training/feeding sessions, I also sat in on a couple of briefings. This is what is given to the people who come in to swim with the dolphins. It is about a 30 minute lecture that includes an introduction to the facility, it talks about the anatomy of dolphins and a lot of fun facts, it gives a conservational message and also introduces some of the behaviors they should expect to see during their time in the water with the dolphins. We had to listen to this today because we are going to be the ones giving this briefing very shortly. It was a lot of information to take in, so I will definitely have to study and practice. With this internship, I will get out of it what I put into it. Anytime someone shows me a task, even one like cleaning buckets, I have to be cleared off to do it by myself. Once I am cleared I can move on and get cleared on even more things! Basically, the more effort I put into it, the more hands on experience I will get with the dolphins. I plan on giving it my best, and although I am very overwhelmed with everything right now, I'm sure I will get used to the way things work and get better at things every day. I am very excited for the rest of the summer and I will keep you guys updated with how things go. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the facility or the dolphins today, but that will come soon! For now, here are some pics of my adorable babygirl and some from the dives my dad and I went on!
Good night everyone!!
Emma is very curious...
Relaxing in her new bed :)
Budda-rub...
Now we have wisdom :)
Sea Turtle
Sting Ray
Thursday, May 10, 2012
My "new" home away from home...
Hello everyone, I'm back!
I'll be blogging again for the next three months letting all of you know about my new adventures down here in Key Largo, Florida. In case any of you don't know, I will be interning here at a facility called Dolphin Cove for the entire summer. They are a dolphin swimming center for tourists and really focus on research as well. I'll be assisting the dolphin trainers with their training and learning all about what it takes to be a dolphin trainer, and also helping out with any research that I can. :D
I don't actually start until Tuesday, so for now my parents and I are having a fun vacation. We flew into Florida on Tuesday evening and have been spending time in Miami enjoying the beach, shops, restaurants, and the Miami Seaquarium. Today we came to Key Largo to stay at my new place. It is so cute, I'll post pictures below. It is pretty small but absolutely perfect for me for the next three months. We got here this afternoon and unpacked, went grocery shopping, and got me all settled in. Then we went and explored the small town a little bit. We just got back from dinner and plan on relaxing at home the rest of the evening. The next few days are going to be pretty busy for us. My dad and I plan on going scuba diving at least two times while they are here, plus we want to visit the beach and maybe hit some "tourist" sites. So stay tuned, I'll be updating you all as we go!
Here are some pictures of my new home away from home! :)
I'll be blogging again for the next three months letting all of you know about my new adventures down here in Key Largo, Florida. In case any of you don't know, I will be interning here at a facility called Dolphin Cove for the entire summer. They are a dolphin swimming center for tourists and really focus on research as well. I'll be assisting the dolphin trainers with their training and learning all about what it takes to be a dolphin trainer, and also helping out with any research that I can. :D
I don't actually start until Tuesday, so for now my parents and I are having a fun vacation. We flew into Florida on Tuesday evening and have been spending time in Miami enjoying the beach, shops, restaurants, and the Miami Seaquarium. Today we came to Key Largo to stay at my new place. It is so cute, I'll post pictures below. It is pretty small but absolutely perfect for me for the next three months. We got here this afternoon and unpacked, went grocery shopping, and got me all settled in. Then we went and explored the small town a little bit. We just got back from dinner and plan on relaxing at home the rest of the evening. The next few days are going to be pretty busy for us. My dad and I plan on going scuba diving at least two times while they are here, plus we want to visit the beach and maybe hit some "tourist" sites. So stay tuned, I'll be updating you all as we go!
Here are some pictures of my new home away from home! :)
My front porch/yard area
:)
My little kitchen space :)
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