Most of you who know me are aware of my fish phobia (as a college friend puts it.) I can’t tolerate the smell, I won’t eat seafood, and I will not (not for anything!) touch fish. On a trip to Destin, I shocked my family by actually going out into the gulf waters. But as soon as I saw and felt the fish, I was out of there!
So I suppose I shocked everyone when I agreed to go to a dolphin encounter on our recent trip to Cozumel. My husband was laying bets against me even going through with it. But dolphins are NOT FISH! They are mammals who just happen to live in the sea. And they’re cuter than anything in the oceans!
I love dolphins. I love all the stories of how they help humans. I believe God created these amazing creatures specifically to help us in ways we didn’t even anticipate. Plus, they have so much personality!
We were very fortunate to be able to go into the waters with the dolphins at Dolphinaris, Cozumel. We were the only ones for our particular adventure so we had a lot of one-on-one time with the dolphin, Electra, her baby, Golden Boy, and their trainer, Carlos.
Surprisingly, it was Red who freaked out. She was very wary of the dolphins and it took her awhile to warm up to them. (I think it was their size.) Normally, she’s so curious about animals. In fact, she’s our fearless kid who even pets snakes. But that’s another story…
Back to the dolphins…Electra was amazing. She was so laidback. She let us pet her, hug her, kiss her, and obey our commands to sing, dance, and speak. She allowed us to examine her fins, her teeth, her back and tummy. Her baby, Golden Boy, who was eight months old and quite a ham, wanted in on the action. He wanted us to play with him. He would swim over top his mother and try to come to us. The trainer kept tossing him back. But that didn’t deter the playful dolphin. Golden Boy, who, as his name suggests, likes to be the center of attention. He swam off to find one of the other babies to play with and brought Helen back to see us too. Finally, he finally splashed us playfully trying to get our attention. And he got it…but not in a good way. Red had her eyes and mouth filled with seawater and she just about lost it!
For 45 wonderful minutes we enjoyed these majestic creatures. There were 4 other moms and 4 other babies in the tank and we were able to see the 10 jump together. It was incredible. Oh yes, I even fed Electra her snack of dead fish. (Pictures to prove it!) It was disgusting but totally worth it.
At the very end, Golden Boy slid up for a goodbye. Red finally consented to touch him and loved it! Of course…at the very end.
Guess what Red wants to be when she grows up? Yep. A dolphin trainer.
For now,
Call us dolphin lovers!
Ah, Thanks! I live out my dolphin encounter through you!