A few other facts I learned: Mothers carry their babies for a year before giving birth. The babies stay with the mom for six years until they are independent. They feed the babies by the baby signaling to the mother that they are hungry. They do this by bumping her in the lower belly and she then releases […]

Dolphins are voluntary breathers. That means dolphins make a choice each time to breathe, unlike ourselves, as we breathe without thinking. There are stories of dolphins in captivity and their life span is shortened dramatically. Most live only two years. The man who trained Flipper experienced this with one of his beloved dolphins that worked in […]

I believe there is genuinely an openness that is needed for spending time with the dolphins. A friend asked me “what caused you to be more open or receptive to these friends, say than another friend in town?” My response surprised me. We spent a significant amount of time reflecting on why we were here […]

Getting lost in space and time – I found my time with the dolphins was mystical and magical. Although feeling tired on the boat, when they were spotted instantly the energy surge began. When swimming with them, I lost all sense of time, how long we had been in the water, or the time we […]

Dolphins by nature are very affectionate. They are very tactile with each other, often swimming close and gathering information by touching. We observed them touching fins in what we nicknamed the flipper flap: two dolphins swimming together, flapping their pectoral fins against each other (think of a kid doing a “high fives” repeatedly with their […]

So far I would say the dolphins played directly more than any other specifies I have encountered. They play with seaweed, they play with bubbles or air rings, and they play with each other and with us. They swam circles around some of us underwater – literally looking like a dance it was so graceful, […]

Dolphins have a variety of ways they communicate with each other and with humans. Many of us, when we think of dolphin sounds, hear the laughter that Flipper often projected in the television show. They more often use clicks or clicking to share or say hello. They are astute at sonar – they send signals […]

Once in the waters the dolphins would truly choose when they surfaced to come toward individuals. As they caught your eye, they would turn and truly look over their shoulder sometimes even slowing, saying ‘do you want to play?’ There is truly an invitation by these soulful creatures that is quite delightful. Sometimes they were […]