Some fun, now!! Somehow we got wind of the availability of dolphins to swim with in Nuevo Vallarta. Since nothing would do but to see what this was about we signed for a bit of time in the water with dolphins.
We took the bus to where we could easily get a cab into Nuevo Vallarta and found the center to be a fairly modern facility. We got down to the boat for the very short ferry ride over to the area with the tanks. We stayed in a waiting area while we watched a group ahead of us doing a “train the trainer” session. Here there were lots of people belonging to various groups sorted by what color wrist bands we wore. Then the trainers came in and gave us a few ground rules for getting in the tank with the dolphin. Essentially we were told how to touch the animals and how not to touch them. The trainers were great in their presentation and concern for their charges. Our group of eight was with Sue and our first dolphin (Alii) was a real charmer. At about 200 pounds Alii was a fairly small, just past the juvenile stage, animal with scars on his back from encounters with other dolphin in the pool. It was Alii that gave each of us in turn a ride around the pool in the belly-to-belly mode. This was accomplished by holding the fins close to his body and stretching our arms out to then slide over the top while keeping our feet clear of the tail. The tail, it turns out, is very hard. We learned too that a dolphin is a bit over 80% muscle as we tootled around in our towed position. Once we started smiling we couldn’t stop.
The other part of the fun was in simply touching the animals. They each had a very wet rubber feel to them. The second dolphin, Lluvia (translates as Rain), was slightly larger and a bit stronger than the first. She was less scarred and then Sue (our assigned trainer) mentioned that she was a bit more aggressive in her personality. While we were crowded around stroking her she made a grab for the draw string on my swim suit but was polite enough to stop when the trainer asked her to. We did kisses and hugs for the camera, as well as feeding her. The young man next to me said, “Yuk, they gave me a squid to feed her… just the thing I didn’t want to touch!” My own feeding experience was a large mackerel and it was fun dropping it down the mouth. I noticed that the tongue was different, with little nodules around edge, and I did not ask about it as I should have. Now that means a few minutes of research to understand the reason and meaning of this adaptation to complete the field trip.
As one of the things to cross off the (bucket) list this is near the top. It has been a “wanna do” for a long time. Check. Done. Kewl!!!
3 comments:
Neat. It is something on our list as well. Someday.
Looks like way more fun than Sea World. Very cool.
Ride em cowboy!
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