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!

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!