My favorite was an elusive blenny (a 1 inch fish who hides in things) who was tucked into an abandon oyster shell. You can see a picture of one here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Algae_blenny.jpg/690px-Algae_blenny.jpg

Inch long baby barracuda were tucked up to the limbs, but not everything was tiny. There were schools of 2 foot rainbow parrot fish chewing on the roots, and enormous somethings tucked into the tangle. Swirls of tiny silver sides made the water churn. The black tipped mangrove snapper and the the striped grunts were the most plentiful fish. Special treats: a large cowfish and several really cool bandtailed puffers.

The next day we returned but the wind was up and the visibility was poor. So we went into another area and found a mother load of lobsters and one big fat crab. Grin!

That afternoon we visited the wild bird rehab center to see the 3:30 feeding fest. All the pelicans in the neighborhood come for handouts. What a blast it is to grab hand fulls of fish from the buckets and plop them into the pelicans’ open mouths. The herons of all shapes and sizes gather at a pond up the path and get fed smaller fish. They are delicate looking but tough competitors. I highly recommend visiting this place if you are ever in the Key Largo/Travenier area of the Florida Keys. Don’t miss the bone pile where they put out goodies for the the raptors to devour.

A perfect end to a perfect day, sunset over the water at our hotel, the tiny and delightful Island Bay Resort at MM 92.5.

We signed up for a Dolphin Encounter, where we interacted with a mother, Marena and her yearling calf Kyle. They did all the tricks with us, including Marena towing us around the pool hanging onto her dorsal fin. What a complete blast! These dolphins are caring gentle and love to play. Matt is really the one to tell how it changed him.

Matt approaches understanding his encounter from the evolution based frame of mind.  “First off, just coming into such close contact with another earthly life form that is so intelligent, more so than other domesticated animals. And you just can’t help but think that these beings didn’t follow the same chain of evolution as us, because they are as intelligent as us, how can this be unless it is a parallel path to us?” Matt went on to share his amazement at how the dolphins teach each other the behaviors, and how closely knit they are when doing group tricks like leaping and spinning.  Most of all I was taken by how curious the dolphins are about people, just as we are about them. They just sat and watched us, just as we do them. We appreciate each other as equals.

I was taken by how much they delight in our delight, in delight itself. My horses are clicker trained, and I have seen the reciprocal joy first hand, but not to the extent that I felt it here. These sweethearts want nothing more than for all of us to be in love and in joy. I believe it is a reflection of two things: the Dolphin Research Center is positive and  honoring, and the dolphins themselves are powered by native joy.  A crappy place could probably diminish this passion in them. Certainly dolphins are indeed wild animals with their own ways. I have known divers who were beaten up by wild dolphins. Maybe this was just the dolphins not realizing the diver was a fragile playmate. Maybe it was the dolphin expressing territorial rights. Or maybe the dolphin mirrored the diver’s attitude.

My communication with these dolphins was straight forward.  “Who is your favorite trainer?” A thin blond woman (There were two of them, but Matt thinks it was Jessica, who was very enthusiastic and sweet.) “Tell me about what makes you happy?” Getting a spin perfect, sliding on a slick surface (like a seal), sex, the quietness of night, a low whistle that one of the trainers gives when he comes out alone and gives back rubs, helping small kids who are “special needs”. This came from a large dolphin named Delphi.

In Bonaire this February I spent a morning interacting with a wild pod. They told me where they would be and when, and I went to greet them, and was always just a little bit late. Finally I was able to see them, swim out to them and be with the trailing members of the pod, a mom and her calf, as they dove beneath me. Nothing even close to touching distance. The Dolphin Research Center discourages all interaction with wild dolphins because it causes dolphins to loose their wariness of people. They cited cases where moms teach the babies to approach boats for food hand outs (the center implied that this was in replacement to teaching them to fish) and that the offered feed wasn’t the correct food for them. The more serious concern to me was that the dolphins would then be unafraid of the wrong people – people who would molest them by plugging their air holes, and worse. This is a concern that I must ponder as I head for Hawaii in August, with the hope of connection with spinner dolphins.