Livin' the Dream: Dolphin Cove Internship!: 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!!