Those Amazing Dolphins

Life continues to go well for us on Carpe Diem in Boot Key Harbor, Marathon. Many of our winter friends have left already, but we were glad to catch one couple, Terri and Larry Howard aboard Vixen. We got them over for a meal two nights ago. They began their journey back up to Jacksonville yesterday morning. The mooring field is far from empty, however, and we've met a few couples on boats who will be here for the summer.

Some of our activities continue as they have. For instance, I spent yesterday at the Dolphin Research Center (DRC) volunteering as I now do once a week. As I mentioned in the last entry, I do this, in part at least, as a way of giving back to the community from which we get a great deal. I do have an interest in marine mammals as do many people, and I'm happy to help an organization whose mission is to study dolphins to learn more about them while treating them very well. While my volunteer activity does not require any specific background or expertise, my presence there gives me the chance to learn quite a bit about dolphins and a few other animals as well.

So what have I learned? For starters, I've come to appreciate all that goes into such an operation. There are 24 dolphins there now. Most of them were born there while a few are retired from active performing at other places. Two have been rescued – one from a shark attack when it was quite young and also seemed to have lost its mother. The other was rescued from the BP oil spill, also at a young age. They are all healthy now, but they could not survive in the wild at this point. Survival for dolphins is not something driven by instinct. They need to be trained by their mother to hunt for food and avoid dangers. At the DRC they don't get that training, since the mothers never learned it either. They get up to 25 lbs. of restaurant quality fish every day, so there's no motivation to try to catch food. In fact the lagoons they live in are full of fish that could provide them food, but the dolphins ignore them. Oh and by the way, the fish the 24 dolphins eat comes at a hefty price – about $800,000 a year. The fish come frozen and are stored in a huge freezer. Each dolphin gets a specific diet which is prepared daily. Their diets all vary depending on size, age and other factors. As this diet is prepped, the fish are examined and those not up to standard are rejected. The rejects come to as much as 50 lbs a day. I was glad to learn that it's not thrown away but given to a local bird rehabilitation center where the food standards don't need to be as high.

So when I think about the food bill together with the trainers and research workers plus those who deal with the public along with grounds keepers, I begin to understand the reasons for the prices they charge visitors to come in and to interact with the dolphins. This is a non-profit operation, and all their support comes through admissions and memberships.

These curious creatures love to swim along the shore of their lagoon people watching.

I've learned a bit about the dolphins themselves, as you might expect. For instance, they can stay submerged for seven minutes; they can put on a burst of speed up to about 25 mph; the young are nursed by their mother or a nurse maid for up to two years; they live in the wild to an age for about 25 years, but in captivity where they are cared for well, they can live longer. The oldest known dolphin in captivity is in its early 60s. The oldest at DRC is 52. Her name is Molly. She is a descendent of one of the original Flippers from the 1960s movie by that name. (In fact the movie was filmed here.) Her grandparent was one of the stunt doubles. It seemed that the dolphin who starred in the movie wasn't particularly athletic, so stunt doubles did the jumps and other such stuff. Molly still performs on occasion. Her most interesting peculiarity is her interest in scarfs. She collects them and hides them in her lagoon, bringing them out now and then.

A speed run

Trainers spend quite a bit of time with the dolphins. The training has more than one purpose. Of course this allows them to show off the dolphins to the public, but it also provides exercise for a mammal that in the wild travels quite a bit and thus get plenty of exercise. This training also provides a platform for some of the research. Some of the activities they performed, for instance, are not taught by the trainer but by other dolphins. They learn and copy. In fact, according to research done at this point, the dolphin is the best imitator next man – better than monkeys, for instance. I could go on about what I've learned of dolphin behavior, but this is probably more than enough for a blog entry. For those who might want to learn more, feel free to respond to this, and I'll try to answer any questions.

The coming month will include lots of activities for us. Our daughter Samantha and her family including our grandsons Nathan, Chris and Ryan will be arriving tomorrow. They'll be here for a week. Then my sister Kathy and her family arrive for a few days before we go up to West Palm for a family wedding. Then we'll prepare to leave Marathon and head slowly up to Vero Beach. There our other daughter Jenn will join us for a trip over to the Abacos for three or four weeks. So we'll be busy, but hopefully not too busy to continue this blog.

Captain Bob

Carpe Diem

While I was volunteering, Sandra continued to work on baskets.  This is her rainbow basket.