After a morning lecture on sea turtles, the group headed out to a snorkel/dive at Four Sponges, a beautiful reef location with not 4, but maybe 4000 sponges tucked in among the corals!! We didn’t see any turtles at this spot, but the group has had watery encounters with both green and hawksbill turtles on previous snorkels and dives and now they are familiar with knowing how to tell these reef reptiles apart.
At noon we headed over to Bailey’s Key, home to over 20 Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins, including two calves born in the past month. After an orientation, we entered the enclosure to have a fabulous meeting with these social marine mammals. Each of us got to touch the dolphins, give them a “high five” which amounted to a hand-to-fin rub and ended the experience with a dolphin kiss! Afterwards, we spent 30 minutes snorkeling with the entire group as they rushed around us looking for underwater rubs and pats or a game of seaweed “take away” where a blade of sea grass is presented to an interested dolphin, who grabs it and tries to keep you for getting it back. The biggest thrill came when the new mothers brought their youngsters over to show off their lovely little gray bundles of joy! The mothers are protective and keep the calves more than an arms-reach away, but both mommas were happy to receive rubdowns from the group.
The evening lecture on dolphins, served as a perfect review of what we had learned at the encounter. Of course, the day wouldn’t come to a perfect end without a night snorkel to try and find some of the nocturnal creatures of the reef…..lobster, anyone??
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| On our way to the Dolphin Encounter |
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| Meet Dixon, four years old! |
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| A very photogenic and friendly Green Moray getting cleaned! |
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| A Spiny Caribbean Lobster |
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