I had the joy of completing a bucket-list item for my 50th Bday, thanks to mom and dad:

Swimming with dolphins

 

I’m still floating on cloud 9! I’m left craving more time with ROBALA, my 38-yr old alpha female dolphin, from the wilds of the sea, vs born in captivity.

When we heard about our group of 61”s, assigned 3 female dolphins, she was the one I hoped would pick me.

10 of us are in the water at one time, with pairs of 2 facing each other, forming a pseudo “stall” for them to enter between, at will. Nothing is forced. But once a dolphin swims into your human walls, that’s your dolphin for the intimate encounter.

ROBALA, Had the first choice as alpha, and I was the first of my group of 9, in the water, having no human paired up with me (I had ROBALA all to myself) once all 9 were paired and still, the dolphins investigate …. SHE PICKED ME!

Everyone was super excited on the boat ride over, but once seeing ROBALA, in her 13-foot long splendor, and her 18 yr daughter Cayia, at 12 feet, and a companion 17-yr old female named Exuma, coming in at 11 feet long, some experienced fear, and decided to watch only.

I was eager, and was sure to assume the first spot for entering the designated water space, in case anything should go wrong, and the experience thwarted from continuing!

We were told about our 3 dolphins behavior before entering the water area:

ROBALA was said to be the resident alpha, even over the resident bull alpha male. She was said to be so smart, that she could run this program without the help of trainers. She’d mothered 3 of the facility’s 12 dolphins. She was one of the original 5 rescued from the Gulf of Mexico. Their natural life expectancy in the Wild is 17-28. They’re living to 50-60 in captivity.

Note; in my opinion, it’s not appropriate to House any wild animal in captivity without significant life-enriching experiences, and where they cannot meet or exceed their natural life expectancy.

I’d feared that seeing them in this natural, but contained habitat, with daily encounters with multiple strangers, and man fed diets, would have me witness unhappy and unhealthy animals.

It was also my first instinct, to have low and calm energy (not my normal m.o. with my species- which I’m normally very energetic with), but is my innate response with wild and domestic animals!

To my pleasure, they’re not only very healthy and outliving their wild life expectancy, but they also respond fabulously to the human attention, and LOVE excitable energy! The more we whoop and holler, the more we laughed and clapped, the more the dolphins enjoyed the encounter with us!

We were also told that daily, a dolphin is given complete freedom, in rotation, out of the contained lagoon, via motor-boat escort. They are able to swim at full speed, of 12 miles per hour. …a great life and health enhancing experience!

My biggest pleasure came through, from witnessing them frequent trainers for affection, and their new group of human tourists, UNSOLICITED!

My dolphin, ROBALA, was also described as opinionated, and assertive. Then they further explained, that if she didn’t like you, she’d push you out into the far lagoon (where a boat waited picking you up, just for this antic!), and swim back without you! I was instantly knowing I wanted to meet her, given a choice of the intimate encounter with only 1 of the 3! My work with dominant-aggressive dogs, horses, brown bear and large cats, made this a no-brainer for me!!

So while I’m floating on cloud -9 still, I’m left craving more time with my new friend ROBALA! We were having conversations that I’d only just begun to understand before my time was up! Ugh! But I plan to return to this same destination, and request ROBALA, for a deep-sea dive with her next time, where I’ll get a full 25 minutes of one-on-one time with her!

Thanks, Mom and Dad- for a most unique, awe-inspiring, and blissful life-experience!!

I still carry the joy of that day!