I’ve only been home for a little more than a week but already I was feeling that “all work and no play…” disease creeping up on me.  So today my friend and I (I do have a friend, maybe two) went off on an adventure.  Several months ago we took in a movie – Dolphin Tale – about a very intriguing marine rescue of an amazing animal.  It was especially interesting to us because it was filmed in our backyard, so to speak, and the star of the show still resides there at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. We took Karyn’s slightly expired two-for-one coupon and motored up to see for ourselves.

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie yet, you really should. The dolphin named Winter did lose her tail as a result of bacterial infection after getting trapped in a net and injured.  With love and attention she survived, and when you visit the aquarium you get to see the place and the people who saved her.  The compnay who volunteered work on a prosthetic tail finally came up with one that would stay on.  We saw the tail applied today and watched as she exercised the muscles that were atrophying and causing her to have scoliosis. 

Did you know that sharks flap their tails sided to side but dolphins wave theirs up and down? So I learned some pretty cool things and also got to see some other rescued animals including sea turtles, and river otters.  The aquarium is located out on one of the keys so there was lots of lovely water scenery.  We got a free boat ride back to the parking lot when we were done. If I had visitors in town I would definitley consider taking them to see Winter since it wasn’t just an interesting trip but also supports a worthy non-profit effort.



Winter with her prosthetic tail



On the down side, I couldn’t take any pictures because I got a “camera failed” message on my phone. This should not be.  So I settled for buying a key chain for a souvenir and am taking a picture of it now at home.