Wow, we had a great day! Well, I have to admit they are all pretty good, but today we had wonderful weather here in Key Largo, FL. Low humidity by our standards, and a nice breeze made the mid-eighties comfortable.
We picked up Judi at home and met Bob at Dolphins Plus as the morning therapy session got underway. Barbara has some nice pictures in her camera of our time there. Due to technical difficulties (somebody did not bring the adapter that allows uploads from the camera), they will remain there until she figures how to download them to the PC. In the mean time I am no help. My iPhone does a nice job with some photos, but anything requiring timing is not among them. As much as I tried I could not get a good shot of dolphins doing much of anything interesting. Not that they were not doing interesting stuff, I just could not time the shot since there is such a delay from release to snap. Here are two tries.
The therapy sessions are meant to add motivation to behaviors that improve what function issues the participants have. The excitement and newness of the activities often breakdown inhibitions that stand in the way of communication, for instance. There were young children that really opened up in the process, and the expressions on the faces of the parents were priceless. The interactions during these sessions are more than entertainment, but let’s face it; the participants are having a ball. God bless them.
From there we went to the Marine Mammal Conservancy’s stranded animal rehabilitation facility to watch their work with pilot whales stranded on a beach in early May. Four females remain in their care and require 24-hour personal attention. That means at least two persons in the water with each whale at all times. They are to keep the whale afloat as it rests and recovers from what ever (thought to be a virus) drove them to beach. The volunteers literally hold them and keep them from sinking, thus allowing them to continue to breath while too weak to control their level in the water through swimming. This kind of care requires considerable manpower, so volunteers are needed around the clock. Barbara volunteered to take a four-hour shift from 0400-0800 tomorrow morning. What a woman! Of course, I get to drive her over at 0330. She should have a good story to tell tomorrow so stay tuned.
Once she is done we will be off to Key West and the military campground on Sigsbee Island.
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