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DECEMBER 2002 NEWSLETTER
Welcome to DolphinWorld.net & DolphinWorld.org, the provider of the best vacations in the Florida Keys and the Bahamas. This newsletter contains interesting and fun information for you, your friends and family. In this month's issue you’ll find noteworthy information on the rare Pink River Dolphin, the latest tropical adventure story, New Live Dolphin Web Cam, this month's marine mammal story contest winner.
Sorry it has taken so long to write another newsletter, but we were extremely busy trying to figure out new programs for after December 15, 2002. And thank God, we were able to come up with some exciting new programs for you!! 1 - 4 Day Dolphin World Workshop programs, besides Trained Dolphin Swim programs, we now offer you the opportunity to spend more up close time with the dolphins in the apprentice program. Also, a chance to swim with sea lions and sting rays. These are all part of our new Dolphin World Workshop programs. To see more about these programs please, CLICK HERE.
Don't forget, the one thing that
Dolphin World provides you, an opportunity to experience both Trained and Wild
Dolphins. The Trained Dolphins, you will be guaranteed to see and be with
dolphins. The trained dolphin program is more a hands on with the trainer, you,
and the dolphins. But on the other hand,
the wild dolphin experience, it's you, the boat captain, looking for wild
bottle-nosed dolphins. The challenge of looking for the wild dolphin is always
so rewarding when you find these incredible mammals in their own habitat. As you
can see in this picture, a baby with her mother, swimming along side the boat.
You will enjoy both programs. The wild dolphin encounter is part of the 4 Day
Workshop program.
More and more people seem to want to do and experience the wild dolphin experience. I think as more people come to the Florida Keys and get comfortable snorkeling, they want more. That's why the Bimini, Bahamas wild dolphin swim has been a huge success. You will get more time looking and being with the dolphins, sometimes you can be in the water for 2 hours with the dolphins. I mean 2 hours of pure swimming, diving, and looking at these amazing sea mammals. Below is a letter from a customer that experience this 7 Days/ 6 Nights vacation. So start planning now for summer 2003. The summer weeks are starting to fill up. CLICK HERE.
It's Dolphin World's job to make sure you enjoy this newsletter and if you no longer wish to receive future editions we have provided an unsubscribe page to remove your email from the monthly distribution. CLICK HERE to REMOVE. Also please give us any comments you have about Dolphin World.
Make it a great day!!
John McNamara
Dolphin World.net
Tropical-Adventure.com
Luke 2:8-15
The
Rare Dolphins
A little insight on these
lovely water mammals
The amazon river dolphins or botos are born grey and become pinker with age They have a long powerful beak, small eyes and are slow swimmers. When excited, they will flush to a bright pink temporarily. They are unique among dolphins for having molar-like teeth and can chew their prey. Also another uniqueness is they have small hairs on their rostrum which remain throughout their life. Another interesting habit is they rest on the bottom of the river. They are quite solitary animals, and are found in the main rivers of the amazon and orinoco river systems of tropical South America. They inhabit muddy stagnant water, and during flooding will move onto the flooded forests leaving them at risk of stranding. They are however extremely flexible so they can weave through the obstacles of trees as they search for their prey. They are a completely freshwater species, never venturing into salt water. Their habitat is threatened by pollution, damming, boat traffic, and by man through directly killing them for food or sport or destruction of their habitat.
The chinese river dolphins or baiji (meaning white dolphin) are one of the most severely endangered dolphin species with less than 300 individuals in the Yangtze River, the only place they are found. This species is a shy animal, with a long thin beak and tends to be seen in pairs. They are light to dark grey fading to white on the belly. They dive only briefly, and are very well adapted to their life in turbid, silty water. The species faces many threats, including damming, boat traffic, death from fishing lines, and habitat degradation. The baiji is now a protected animal in China and a concerted effort is being made towards its preservation including the establishment of reserves
The franciscana is a relative of the Chinese river dolphin which unlike the other river dolphins actually inhabits the shallows of the ocean. It is an uncommon species, and rarely seen, found along the coast of South America. They feed near the bottom of the ocean and do not form schools. This species has a small head and a long slender beak, and is colored pale brown. They are often caught in nets.
The ganges river dolphin , located in the rivers of India and Bangladesh and the indus river dolphin , found in the Indus River system of Pakistan are virtually sightless and are also endangered. They are known for their distinctive bulbous head shape, and for swimming on their sides, using their echolocation and probing with their rostrums (snouts) to find food on the muddy river bottom. They are colored dark grey fading to light grey on the belly. Slow breeders , they are threatened by damming, pollution, habitat degradation and hunting. There may be as few as 400 indus river dolphins in existence.
Information resources from the internet.
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Place this banner on your site, personal and get ONE (1) Kip the Dolphin tee shirt, place this on your business website and get TWO (2) Kip the Dolphin tee shirts, Medium or X-Large. You must submit to us by email at banner@dolphinworld.org with your name, address and where you placed the banner. Then we will have a record of this for your booking. To add this banner to your site, just copy the following code and paste it into the html portion of one of your web pages. If you are not sure how to do this or need some help, email us and we'll the do the best we can to explain this further.
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T R O P I C A L - A D V E N T U R E
Florida Bay Adventure
Boat Trip
When asked what you may see on Captain Sterling Adventure boat trip from Key Largo to Flamingo, Florida, Captain Sterling will say “ we may see the American alligator and the American crocodile”. He refers to a commonly unknown fact that the Florida Everglades is the only environment on the planet where alligators and crocodiles can be seen together, as the alligator’s need for fresh water and a subtropical climate and the crocodile’s need for saltwater and a tropical environment are both met here.
Thank you, Captain Sterling
and I know there is so much more to explore in your exciting article
about your trip.
Please Click Here to Read More!!
WIN FREE DOLPHIN SWIMS PLUS SNORKEL TRIP, SUNSET CRUISE PLUS MORE FROM TROPICALADVENTURE.COM!
Click here to enter
Dolphin World
Stories from you!
Kip the Dolphin Tee Shirt
You can win this Kip the Dolphin Tee Shirt.
Please send me a Marine Mammal story, swimming with the dolphins, dolphin
sightings, manatee story, any kind of marine mammal story. If you have pictures,
make sure to attach it to the email. Click Here for the email marinestory@dolphinworld.org.
Start Writing and Good Luck. One winner will be picked..
This Month's Winner
By Leah Lemieux
Our host was Captain Geoff Hanan, an
imposing wooly giant of a man with an intimate understanding of Bimini's
waters. Being a superb free diver, he's been engaging the Bimini
dolphins for over thirty years. Geoff's knowledge, competence, ease
on the water, and inclination to laugh often and resoundingly make him the
perfect guide.
His assistant Christina, hails from Brazil.
Her slender, russet beauty and warm honey eyes give her the appearance of
an sun-kissed runway model, but she's no frail orchid, handling her many
duties, including ship cook and mechanic, with a natural grace and
ingenuity.
Our boat was a twenty-seven foot live-aboard trimaran
(a triple hulled sailboat, known for its supreme stability), with all the
amenities, named "Spirit of Calypso".
I adore sailing-a sun drenched life calling keenly to
me from the nourishing nimbus of the tropical latitudes.
Unencumbered by any landmass, we skimmed over the ocean's rending aqua
spectrum, seeking our elusive quarry under appaloosa skies. This was
my own private version of heaven and I reveled in it all.
Ploughing through the gorgeous turquoise
waves, I kept a lookout for any sign of dolphins, over the brilliant
water. We were patrolling the sandy shallows at the western edge of
the Great Bahamas Banks and at last, there they were! Bursting from the
water and skipping over the sea like polished stones-Dolphins!
Gazing down, I watched them weaving flawless glissandos as they rode the
bow waves. Perfect, Liquid, Unfettered
And then one of them turned on his gleaming side
to look at me. It happens now and again; the eyes of two creatures
from different worlds meet and somehow there is a feeling of recognition
and affinity. A very real exchange, defying all dissection.
It was glorious, watching the dolphins caressing each
other avidly, so enjoying their element, the afternoon and each other-I
longed to be one among them.
With crescendoing pulses, we readied our masks
and fins for submersion, unable to take our eyes from the sparkling
shadows waiting for us just below.
At last, cut adrift in the sea's tepid azure, I glanced up to see
two dolphins gliding towards me, mirroring one another in faultless
symmetry. In moments I found myself smoothly encapsulated.
The enchantment was instant, their grace
consummate. But there was more to it than that: It was the candor of
contact with those eyes of theirs, at once exact and ineffable. Too
soon, they went slipping away between the wandering sunbeams, leaving me
wondering in their wake.
Yet those moments shared between us remained
brilliant, and though fleeting, their passage had imparted me with an
aqueous afterglow. And I wasn't the only one.
Early on in life, these Atlantic spotted dolphins
(Stenella frontalis) rather resemble the more familiar bottlenose dolphin
(tursiops truncatus), being a burnished silvery gray color, though smaller
and more slender. However, by the age of three, they begin to collect
their speckles, until as fully-fledged adults, at around 15 years or so,
they are so peppered with spots that they begin to fuse together.
This sort of natural age-color-coding made it relatively easy to gage the
general age of the dolphins visiting with us.
I recognized the dolphin who arced over to collect me
during the next swim as a yearling. An excitable little thing,
whirling me around in a circling, mirthful dance, whistling like mad and
even leaping from the waters, to evoke bubbles of laughter! Then,
the moment over, my flighty companion was off to dizzy the others in our
group.
Apparently, the adult dolphin in charge of this
little ball of energy decided things were getting a little too carried
away, and began making agile attempts to corral the youngster. The
little baby dolphin made every effort to evade its guardian's solicitous
maneuvers, all the while swimming saucily upside down!
The other dolphins gliding along in pairs,
appeared far more serene, rubbing pectoral fins with their partners (as if
'holding hands') while emitting little chirps and wavering whistles.
Amazingly, they allowed me to cruise quietly
among them, gazing into their impossible eyes. As their formation
loosened, they began to weave amongst each other, remaining so close I
thought I might bump my nose on their dorsal fins each time one crossed
before me. I could hardly believe their complete ease and confidence
traveling so near beside me.
Their sunny, silken sides were close enough to
touch-but I knew that would be an unconscionable breach of their trust.
"Look, but don't touch!" being the all-important catch phrase.
As guests in their ocean home, respect and consideration were of prime
importance. Grabbing at or chasing after these wild animals would be
difficult to construe as anything other than rude and intrusive, and at
such an affront, they would likely make an immediate exit from the
scene-thereby cheapening everyone experience.
So no matter how nebulously near they came to me, I
never forgot that I was here merely as a courteous and benign observer in
these dolphins' lives. That completely wild creatures might approach
us at all, let alone with such friendly curiosity, was in itself a kind of
miracle.
Swift and easily bored, it wasn't always easy to
attract and keep the dolphins' attention, and new tactics were needed.
Towlines were tossed out behind the boat, to pull us along, and in this
way, offer them our company with the added bonus of some speed!
It was a marvelous way to travel the sea, effortlessly
gliding over the sandy sea floor, with the sunlight dancing over the
occasional starfish. The ocean was calm and crystal clear, the depth
only about 30 feet and the sky overhead an immaculate blue. Everything was
perfect.
Like a kitten to string, the dolphins were indeed
drawn to investigate, first three appearing, then five, then seven-until
there were about 15 dolphins of all sizes crowding all around and peering
at us! A robust, darkly spotted dolphin came up on my left side.
Our eyes met and held. Every detail, down the least scratch was
visible on his sun-rippled skin. He traveled smoothly, hardly
seeming to swim, the water's drag (of which I was all too aware)
imperceptible on him. Still gazing, we nodded together as we swam,
and combined with the (relative) speed at which we traveled, his proximity
lent a very dolphin-to-dolphin feel to the encounter. It was a true
moment of mutual communion.
The dolphins grew quiet with the heat of the afternoon,
and Captain Geoff took us out in this 20-foot zodiac, "Tender
Spirit." Well attuned to their moods, and whereabouts, we soon
found ourselves among a sprawling group of perhaps 15 dolphins. We
remained in the zodiac, the quiescent water affording us perfect viewing,
up to the least languid caress one dolphin bestowed upon another. Except
for an excitable and curious infant with a shell-pink flushed underside,
the dolphins continued a sedate pace, socializing amongst themselves,
while allowing us to travel among them for over ½ hour!
I will never forget the silence as we drifted with them, no
sound over the sea, except the soft whispers as the dolphins surfaced
offering plumed exhalations to the sky all around us. Watching
them, I was drawn past all commentary and into pure delight of being.
There was one last swim, before our time among
the Bimini dolphins was done. In the early evening light, a pair
flanked me, their eyes on mine. Nothing to say, just sharing the
smoothness of movement and breath. I dove and they joined me in a
cloudy helix, I the eye, of a dolphin cyclone; a flurry of kind, speckled
faces. They began to move deeper into the water column, and as much
as I wished to follow, my lungs demanded that I surface and gasp for
breath.
The dolphins trickled away, slowly fading into
the jeweled water, and in a swoon I lay upon the ocean, brimming with joy
and thanks, ringing with their remembered proximity.
Back on board, sailing home towards Bimini's warm
embrace, we watched the sun's golden orb transform into a slithering sun
dance over the water until dusk slowly captured the sea's colors. My
euphoria did not fade with the coming of night, nor even as I drifted into
dreams, rocked by the island's tender waters beneath a billion burning
stars.
Click Here to find out more about the Wild Dolphin Swim vacation in Bimini, Bahamas.
See
the latest KIP THE DOLPHIN Cartoon. Christmas with Kip and Friends.
Click Here!!
To see previous Kip the Dolphin stories,
go to
kipthedolphin.com
Kip the Dolphin Tee shirts are on Sale now. Go to
the Retail store, CLICK HERE, and buy one today!
The New Dolphin Web Cam
What can Dolphin World.net do to make our site more interesting, informative or valuable to you as a member? Let us know and we will do whatever it takes to make our site the best it can be. Please send all comments to: comments@dolphinworld.org
Copyright 2001 Dolphin World. All Rights Reserved.
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