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[kitz]

Some of you may have seen this already but for those who havent... how lovely is this.

http://www.slothster.com/2352-Cat-On-Boat-Plays-With-Dolphins.html

[kitz]

and despite what the above says.. its not on a boat.

The video was actually taken about 10 years ago at Theatre of the Sea in Islamorada Florida keys.
I was lucky enough to swim with the dolphins there...  whilst kimi played with the cat.

Dug out some old pics for you.


Float in the lagoon.


This dolphin was the one eyeing me up before I even got in the water... and the one that 'hugged and kissed' me. I got a rollicking for his close interaction with me.. but it was all his own doing. The hole in his fin was where he'd nearly been killed in the wild from a motorboat engine


Me n dolphins in the lagoon.


Me being pulled by the dolphins


kimi with the cat.


Kimi and the kitteh


Arena Float. When they heard we come all the way from the UK, but kimi was too young to swim with them, as a special treat she was allowed to go on the training float and pet a dolphin. She'd no idea this was going to happen, but we'd arranged it months in advance.


The lagoon. Here you can see that although certain areas are cordoned off, most of the dolphins were free to come and go as they liked. They could easily jump the barriers and bog off if they didnt want to interact with humans.

[kitz]

Oh and you may have noticed that the dolphin that kimi 'petted' also had a damaged fin.   Nearly all of their dolphins were rescue dolphins who had been hurt in accidents.

The dolphins are under no pressure to perform and as you can see although parts of the lagoon (and the theatre arena) are cordoned off, it was up to the dolphins whether or not if they wanted to interact with humans.  One of the things we were warned is not to be upset if nothing happened.. although admittedly they did interact and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.

We were told that the barriers in the lagoon were there more to protect the dolphins but they were free to jump them if they wished.  You can see in one of the pics one of the boat jetties.. and most of the dolphins soon learned that the cordoned areas were where they were safe from motor boat engines.  This is not a specially built pool such as the likes of SeaWorld etc... but I believe makes use of a more 'natural area' formed when materials were mined to build the highway that links the keys.

[roseway]

Wonderful stuff. Aren't dolphins amazing creatures?

[kitz]

They are eric.   

The experience I had there brought tears to my eyes..  There was one particular dolphin that I 'bonded' with.  Its the one in the 2nd pic.  Whilst we were walking the place before I even got into the water.. he kept coming up to the boardwalk and following us..  giving me deep eye contact.

When I did get into the water he came right up underneath me and 'hooked' me.. at first the staff member shouted at me because she thought id grabbed him and told me to leave him alone.  Then she immediately noticed that it was him who initiated it all and she left us to it.  He came right up infront of me.. standing upright... and this is when she said I could hug him, which i did.  We also did the 'kissy' thing face to his nose.. all initiated by him as part of play.   It is one of the best experiences in my life.

I dont know if that place is still the same, when we went there it was a long time ago and little known at the time (you can see from the pics how quiet it is)..  but its a really wonderful place to visit if anyone ever goes to the keys.  Its a far more natural place to see them than the likes of Seaworld etc.

[UncleUB]

Lovely photo's Kitz(and memories)

We have visited Florida a few times and in 1991 spent a week a Key Largo.While down there we visited the John Pennekamp Coral reef state park.What a wonderful place that is.
We went out on a boat and did some snorkelling on the reef.

http://www.pennekamppark.com/index.html

This was the hotel we stayed in.The only problem was the mozzies....

http://www.keylargoresort.com/

[scottiesmum]

Lovely memories Kitz   ....   what a wonderful thing to be able to get so close to these beautiful creatures. 

[tuftedduck]

What a great experience you had..........TD is jealous...
I bet Kimi and yourself were totally entranced.

Dolphins are fascinating creatures......they seem almost human in their reactions and emotions. Very bright and intelligent.

When I was engaged in my five year circumnavigation on my yacht, there were always dolphins playing about the boat.....flashing along just under the bows, leaping and jumping.....and managing to avoid being run down by the merest fraction.

Beatiful.......thanks for the thread.

[kitz]

We have visited Florida a few times and in 1991 spent a week a Key Largo.While down there we visited the John Pennekamp Coral reef state park.What a wonderful place that is.
We went out on a boat and did some snorkelling on the reef.

http://www.pennekamppark.com/index.html

This was the hotel we stayed in.The only problem was the mozzies....

http://www.keylargoresort.com/

Looks lovely UB..  I love Florida and we used to go quite a lot.  I havent had a holiday for over 10 years now and going back to the keys is one of my wishes.  haha at you mentioning the mozzies I fogot about those.  Theyre really quite bad in some areas - particularly the everglades.   

The first time we stayed in the keys, we stopped at a hotel in Key Largo cant remember any names now... but after that we tended to stay further along... not as popular but just as beautiful.  We never actually got to KeyWest though.. its a heck of a drive and theres only so much you can do in 2 weeks.  Our main base used to be either Naples or Sarasota  and take a few days to get about half way down the keys using various hotels for one or two nights stopover only.

@ SM - thank you - yes I consider myself truely privileged to have swum with those wonderful creatures.  I had done a swim the previous year at what I think was the old dolphin research area in KeyLargo (where the disabled kids go)..  but it wasnt a patch on the experience I had in Islamorada,  where the dolphins seemed so happy and thoroughly enjoyed human contact.  I was so impressed with their conservation and methods they used.  I also felt that any interaction was completely up to the dolphin and it was something that they wanted to participate in and they they enjoyed it too.

>> I bet Kimi and yourself were totally entranced

@ TD - yes.   Kimi wanted to swim too, but she didnt meet the restrictions at the time.. the lagoon water is very deep in parts and because the dolphins can be quite powerful they wouldnt let kids swim.     I'd pre-booked my swim and had asked at the time about kim... which is when they said that they would do something 'as a special treat' because we were coming such a long way.   Bear in mind this was probably before they were as popular as they are now and I think they do now have a shallower area for youngsters.

Kimi happily played with the cat that was featured in the video and was later made up when they took her on the arena float and she was allowed to pet it.   They get the dolphins up on those floats so they can do health checks etc..  they are trained to do that so that any medical care can be carried out (the vast majority of their dolphins were rescues).

o0oooo  I'd so love to go back there again :smiles at the happy memories:

>> flashing along just under the bows, leaping and jumping.....and managing to avoid being run down by the merest fraction.

Thats a real site to see...  and i bet such an uplifting experience for you..  there is something special about them that just makes you feel good.

[UncleUB]

Looks lovely UB..  I love Florida and we used to go quite a lot.  I havent had a holiday for over 10 years now and going back to the keys is one of my wishes.  haha at you mentioning the mozzies I fogot about those.  Theyre really quite bad in some areas - particularly the everglades.   

The first time we stayed in the keys, we stopped at a hotel in Key Largo cant remember any names now... but after that we tended to stay further along... not as popular but just as beautiful.  We never actually got to KeyWest though.. its a heck of a drive and theres only so much you can do in 2 weeks.  Our main base used to be either Naples or Sarasota  and take a few days to get about half way down the keys using various hotels for one or two nights stopover only.

We did drive down to Key West for the day,the drive was wonderful over the 7 mile bridge,but Key West was very disappointing.It was very commercialised.
We had a week Key Largo and 2 weeks in Orlando.

One of the highlights for us was a day cruise to the Bahamas.We left key Largo at 4 am to drive up to Fort Lauderdale for the ship which sailed at 7am.The steel band played,the cocktails flowed(you get the picture) .It was $99 for adults and the kids were $49,that included 3 wonderful meals as well.We arrived back at Key Largo at around 1 am the next day,exhausted,but well worth it.
The hotel we stayed in use to be the Sheraton Key Largo resort,but now is owned by the Hilton chain

[kitz]

>> the drive was wonderful over the 7 mile bridge,

That actually was about as far as we got.  We'd started off down the pacific coast (West Palm Beach etc), a couple of days in the Keys (Theatre of the Sea + the dolphins took up most of one day) ... and then we were due to be back in Naples that night so turned back just before the bridge, and went back up through the everglades and on to the gulf coast.  Although the keys are beautiful.. we wanted to spend the rest of the time on the gulf coast beaches (some of which are magnificent) doing some serious R+R

>> The steel band played,the cocktails flowed(you get the picture)

I do...  and Im envious

[UncleUB]

Although the keys are beautiful.. we wanted to spend the rest of the time on the gulf coast beaches (some of which are magnificent) doing some serious R+R 

The year we spent on the keys etc was 1991.In 1990 we went to Orlando for the first week and was suppose to spend a further 2 weeks at St Petes beach..we only managed a week as my mum died while we  there so had to get back asap.(that is another story which I will get to later)

We stayed at Howard Johnsons at St Pete's beach and was lucky enough to get a Gulf front room.We did travel down the coast and visit Sanibel Island,which was beautiful.How lucky people are to live in these locations.

*Getting back from St Petes to the UK*

We left St Petes Wednesday lunch and drove back up to Orlando to return the rental car and get our flight,which included at stop at Bangor in Maine.
When we arrived at Bangor we were told there was a problem with the plane and a part will have to be flown in from the UK so we will have to stay the night in Bangor.
Next a fleet of those yellow school buses arrived  to take us to a motel.
Next morning we were taken after breakfast to the airport and after a few hours wait got our connection to Manchester.
From leaving St Petes on Wednesday lunch time we arrived back home 1am Friday morning.Luckily my mum's funeral wasn't till the following Monday.

[kitz]

Gosh what a treck to get back home
Eke early 90's and iirc all flights to Florida back then seemed to go via Maine.

----


Sannibel is one of the beaches I refer to when I say gulf coast.  Unfort the island was too expensive to actually stay on which is why we used to base ourselves at Naples.

I think it was about 94/95 when we first discovered Naples... I believe its a lot more popular and well known these days.  But back then, some days we used to have a huuuuuuuuuuuuge expanse of beach practically to ourselves and most of the town had fairly new malls and hotels as it was just being developed as "gateway to the everglades".

Venice has a lovely beach but only went once because of the steep drop off of the water.  I went snorkelling there and found some cracking shells including a massive conch.  I wasnt happy at letting kim swim though as was frightened she'd get out of her depth too easily.

Another of my favourite areas was Longboat key with its pure white sand.  Again too expensive to stay on the island, but only about 10 mins drive from Sarasota.  Fantastic beach for families and with its shallow waters I was happy to let kim loose there.

St Pete's... very pretty beaches.. but very busy beaches. IMHO far better to travel further south where there are even more wonderful beaches to be found.. only problem is you need a car to get there.

[UncleUB]

Re Sarasota......On our last visit to Florida(1994)We stayed in Orlando,but as we liked the Gulf coast so much we decided to spend 3 nights at Sarosta..We stayed at the then Harley (now Helmsley) Sandcastle,which is right on the beach.
We paid extra to have a room overlooking the beach,and irrc the cost way back then was just over $100 a night.But we thought there isn't much point going to a location like that and having a room overlooking the carpark 

http://www.helmsleysandcastle.com/default.aspx

Its all wonderful down that coast,but as you say Kitz,the cost in stopping at some of those resort hotels is mega expensive.

I would love to go back again.........I think I would try and claim asylum when there   as I wouldn't want to come back

[kitz]

Its all wonderful down that coast,but as you say Kitz,the cost in stopping at some of those resort hotels is mega expensive.

It can be, but we found some fantastic hotels at very reasonable prices.  Our two favourite haunts we returned to several times was the Wellesley @ Sarasota and The Best Western @ Naples.  The latter used to be very reasonable and I dont think we ever paid more than about $35 for a room, aside from the time when we got a large suite for just $40 per night, because they'd no doubles left   Obviously this was the late 90's but we became quite cany at booking in advance to get really good room rates.

Like you I'd love to go back :sigh: