"The Theatre of the Sea" south of Key Largo, FL conducts the most amazing dolphin and seal shows I have seen. Located along US 1 about ten miles south of Key Largo, set in what once was a quarry it is a wonderful garden park for families and couples to spend three hours or a whole day. Within the tropical jungle, you move from show to show. Our first stop was the seal performance, a very talented mammal who did all of the traditional things but also demonstrated an affinity to give kisses to her trainer and members of the audience. The trainer that their method of teaching was to reward behaviors that they wanted repeated and to ignore the others. He said they began training by geting then to put their nose on a ball on the end of a stick and follow the ball whereever it went. As the seal progressed, hand gestures were added to the ball movement. After a while the ball was taken away, and it was just hand gestures. And so it went. Each successful behavior was followed by a treat, a fish in this case.
Our next stop in the park was an open bottom boat ride. The boat filled with glee as a dolphin appeared in the center of the open bottom. He then proceded to entertain us, waving, splashing us, jumpin through a ring, ringing a bell, swimming on his back and kissing the captain.
After the boat docked, we were taken through a mangrove forest for two city blocks hearing about the types of mangroves, flora, and animals we were seeing. The path is lined with hundreds of wild orchards. Along the way we saw more dolphins in their very large pens. Each pen is a part of an old rock quary billed with circulating sea water. At the end of the path is a beach and a snack shop. In the water were parrot fish ranging from six to twelve inches. As you waded in the water, the fish circled your feet.
After crossing a bridge at the snack shop we made a u-turn back toward the park entrance. Along the way were numerous ponds featuring sport and game fish. The ponds are a part of the master water system circulating fresh sea water. Several of the ponds had turtles , which were three to five feet in diameter. All of the turtles were rescued - boat strikes, fish nets, birth defects. One turtle even wore a life-vest because his birth defect cause him to swim almost face down vertical.
At the end of the ponds was the theatre for the parrot show. One amazing parrot could count, add and subtract. I don't think the parrot's math prow less was guided by the trainer. I could not see any hand or body movements.
Our next stop was a small pool where our guide picked up a nun shark and allowed us to pet it. I was surprised how rough the skin was.
Our last arena was the dolphin show on the edge of the twenty acre quarry where we had earlier taken the boat ride. The two male dolphins put on a fabulous show doing every thing you expect to see in a dolphin show. But they did some I had never seen. Both the dolphin and the trainer dove under the water and when they came up, the trainer was standing on one foot on the dolphins nose. He lifted her twenty feet in the air. At the top the trainer did a jack-knife and both she and the dolphin reentered the water in tandem. Then they proceeded to do many variety of similar tricks. Amazing. Special note: I was impressed to see the physical trust and love that the trainers had for the dolphins and the dolphins for the trainers.
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Well, Oreo and Sophie have really enjoyed becoming a part of our family. They are very playful and can't get enough of us ... they follow us around and are alway purring and ready to snuggle up on our laps. The boys (especially Mark - have fallen in love)
ReplyDeleteI don't know why, but a few weeks ago, I had a feeling like our family needed something, our house seemed very quiet ... isn't that funny....quiet in the middle of the hectic schedules and all the traffic that runs through this house. The boys have been asking (and again, I mean mostly Mark) for a pet cat.
So, a few weeks ago, I went to a local animal shelter and met with an employee and spent some time with their cats. I wanted to make sure I was ready before I brought itup with the family. One night we had a meeting over dinner and talked about the possibility of having a cat...who would take care of it, did everyone realize this was a long term commitment, etc. Of course they were all thrilled and looked at me like they didn't know if I was joking.
None of the local shelters had kittens. I checked on the North Shore Animal League where I adopted Rascal just about 16 years ago. They are the NorthEast's largest no-kill animal shelter. We would call periodically and they would tell us how many kittens were available for adoption. One Tuesday evening, we drove out - about one hour - to Long Island. On the car ride, we told the boys that it had to be right, we don't want to settle or rush into anything because this was a big decision - this cat would be a member of our family for maybe 15 years! We got out there and, sure enough, no kittens left. James seemed heart broken and ready to take home the first cat he saw. Matt seemed disappointed, but he is very good about understanding and was willing to be patient. We left there without a cat. James was very sad - but we explained that this might happen again and it might take a few visits and that God will let us know when it is right.
Last Saturday - both Mark and I called the shelter and they said yes, they had ktitens. We drove out there again after James' baseball game. Again, we explained that it may not happen and not to get our hopes up. We arrived and there were kittens! However, as we quickly figured out, many of the cages had signs that read "Interested?" that means they were already in the process of being adopted. Oh no, not again, I thought. But then, in one section of the shelter, there were several kittens still needing a good home. Matthew went straight for the tabby that looks so much like Rascal when he was a kitten. The volunteer took her out and Matthew was hooked ... James was still looking around and realized that the tabby had a sister sharing a cage ... the black and white kitten ... James originally had his eye on another black and white kitten .... but the volunteer suggested he hold the tabby's sister since they know each other. It only took a moment and James knew this kitten belonged with us.
We were very open to adopting two kittens - feeling they would enjoy growing up together and would have a playmate and companion while we were off to all our sporting events, etc. And so - the sisters came to be part of the Keeney Family!