How To Play Football With No Feet

I feel like I'm writing the proverbial "What I Did for my Summer Vacation" essay, only my summer vacation included a very rewarding road trip to Florida where I had the opportunity to do something I thought I'd only ever read about and maybe watch from the side of a pool.

About a half hour from St. Augustine, along the A1A (which is a frustrating road when you get tucked behind one of those retirees, in an old Cadillac, who likes to whip down the highway at a blistering 40 miles per hour; I am certain AARP has an underground drag-racing program set up in Florida) there's a dolphin preservation center called Marineland that began operation in 1938 as an underwater film studio. The Creature from the Black Lagoon was filmed there in 1954, and trained dolphin shows were a hit at Marineland years before SeaWorld opened. Marineland no longer offers aquatic-themed shows; instead it's the home of twelve dolphins, including Nellie, who at 57 is the oldest dolphin in any oceanarium in the world.

Did I mention that Marineland is also a hands-on educational facility?

That's right, at Marineland visitors can feed, touch and swim with dolphins. (If you go at the right time of year, you can even paint with the dolphins.) The program begins with information about dolphin biology, the way they live in the wild, dangers they face, and how the biologists and trainers care for the dolphins living at Marineland. As you can tell by Nellie's age, the Marineland dolphins are well taken care of, and can live twice as long as dolphins in the wild. One of the important things the guide pointed out, is that visiting Marineland to see dolphins actually protects wild dolphins. People sometimes feed dolphins in the ocean, which attracts dolphins to boats where they are often seriously injured.

My dolphin companion at Marineland was Aqe, a two year old bottlenose dolphin born at the facility. He was a puckish little guy who loved attention (and fish), and he showed us how to swim, dive, make friends, play football (with no feet even) and eat.



I've seen dolphins up close in aquariums, but it's a whole different world when you're actually swimming next to one.

I found out later that Marineland partnered with the Georgia Aquarium to set up the Dolphin Conservation Field Station dedicated to research, rescue, rehabilitation and release of dolphins and small whales. You can find out more about dolphins, sea mammal conservation, and how you can swim with dolphins at the Marineland website.