Day 36 15.08.15
We got ready, possibly still a little drunk, and got to packing our luggage. At 09:15 we had to have our entire luggage at the reception. We were in a bit of a rush to not forget anything and still have everything packed and ready to go at that time.
We came down to the reception, checked out and there was already a van waiting for us. We drove to a resort called the Anthony Key resort where our half-day trip was already waiting for us. We waited for a boat to pick us up and were shipped to a separate island only shortly off the main coast.
We received a short introduction, telling us what we were allowed to do and what not, and what the package we had bought entailed.
We then headed out the shallow water and waited to be called up by the trainer Kim. Receiving an encounter in English was quite an advantage as we were only 6 people as opposed to other groups of up to 10 people. So we waded into the water, shoulder to shoulder and then we got to see Gracie.
Gracie is a 350 pound elder dolphin lady! She is about 30 years old (they can get up to 40 years old) but is still fit as a fiddle. Yes you read right. We got to see a dolphin, and not just one but several.
Our encounter started and Kim told us a lot about dolphins, their size, weight, speed, feeding habits, their anatomy, the sounds dolphins make, why they make them, what habitat they live in, that they are very playful and Gracie tried as good as she could to provide the examples for the according pieces of information. She would also swim by us and we were able to feel her rubbery skin, which apparently renews every 2 hours (cell for cell).
We then had some time to take photos with the dolphins – a kiss, and a cradle. The cradle was quite unusual, as you would squat down in waist high water, put your arms underneath the dolphin, lift the dolphin, or as Kim said, “give her a bit of support”, and then the dolphin would raise her tail and her head for the camera. You underestimate that water can take away a lot of the weight of such a creature, but definitely not all of it and Gracie did feel quite heavy.
For the kiss you would squat down and the trainer would guide Gracie’s nose towards ones cheek. Not a very graceful sensation but it makes for great pictures :). After some time for our own pictures, where the dolphins would swim around, some of them even jumping into the air (yes triggered by their trainers), it was time to leave the water.
Now you have to imagine the situation when we arrived on the island. It looked a little like a marine park, the difference being, there not being any walls or pools, but open sea, the enclosure however being done through netting. The dolphins had actual fish swimming around their pool, actually chose to not hunt them however as they were being sufficiently fed by their trainers. Especially as we headed into the water the feeling of this being just a commercial scam peaked, as there were several tourist boats surrounding the enclosure trying to spot the dolphins, while the trainers fed the dolphins on different platforms. There was a lot of jumping and collecting items going on, however I truly believe that most of that was playing with the dolphins and not performing a show. After the encounter this all changed however, the trainers stopped the feeding and left the dolphins to calm down a little. And not the most spectacular experience took place.
We went into the water – again with Kim, put our snorkelling gear on and went swimming in the deep end of the enclosure while the dolphins were swimming around us. It was amazing! You’d have dolphins trying to play with you, swimming beside you, so close you could pet them, juveniles chasing each other, playing around with sea weed, and also the most amazing site – a 10 day old dolphin that was ever so tiny. We couldn’t pet it, which was out of the question anyway, as it was constantly protected by a large crowd of dolphins, at one point surrounded by 5 large dolphins. It was still the most natural way to have experienced the dolphins, obviously to a certain point as they were confined to the enclosure.
Apparently the dolphins are let out every once in a while, they have an open water program where they follow a boat out in the water, where scuba divers can dive with them. Apparently they also have put on shows outside of the enclosure but have stopped that, as the dolphins had always wanted to come back to the enclosure early and not do the full show. They also opened up the enclosure during hurricane Mick I think, where the dolphins did swim out, and two never came back that were apparently swept away or lost their orientation. Apart from that no dolphins have voluntarily left their pod yet. I can only repeat what I was told, but it seams like a fairer alternative to the dolphin parks. The dolphins are native to that area, it is a large pod swimming around, with mothers, daughters, grandchildren and if a dolphin doesn’t want to partake in the encounter or the swim, they don’t have to. However they do get food if they do. They can easily communicate using their clicking noises and sonar, and their sonar waves aren’t reflected back to them by some dense pool wall but can flow through the nets and not confuse the dolphins.
We showered and headed back, dropping off our snorkelling gear, recollecting our deposit, and loading our luggage onto the van. We drove to the ferry and boarded it. This time the vomit comet didn’t quite live up to its name and the ride back was absolutely smooth.
I was dying of hunger on the way, as one banana for breakfast, 30 minutes snorkelling and no lunch didn’t really give me enough energy to last me until 8 o’clock in the evening. So my only option was to snack on crisps until we got to a place where I could fully dig in.
On the way to Comayagua we eventually stopped at a buffet place for dinner. I had some beans, rice, some pasta, avocado and a pork steak, and after that I felt more like a human again.
We drove on and got to Comayagua, where we just unloaded our truck, checked in and fell into bed after the tiresome journey.
