Day 3 - Tampa - Clearwater Marine Aquarium

The top attraction on Samantha’s list was the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  This was our destination today.  We got a later start to the day and grabbed lunch to eat on the two hour drive.



Note Chi-Chi at the top of the sign



The aquarium was smaller than I expected but I think that made it better.  We were able to get close to the rescued dolphins and sea turtles.  The highlight was Winter, the dolphin without a tail.  The movie “Dolphin Tale” was based on Winter’s story and was filmed at this aquarium.  Samantha has seen the movie and read books about Winter.  I was able to watch the movie on the long flight from Dubai.  There were three other rescued dolphins who all had their own interesting story of how they came to be there.  The volunteers were a nice compliment to the aquarium.  Very informative with a personal touch. 

Sam holding one of the prosthetic tails Winter has outgrown

Winter



Hope
(Hope's Story from the Clearwater Marime Aquarium website at seewinter.com)

On December 11, 2010, Hubbs Sea World Research Institute received a call that a dolphin calf was found in the Indian River Lagoon on the East Coast of Florida. Staff from Hubbs located the calf, where she was found attempting to nurse from her mother who had passed away. The dolphin was evaluated on-site, and in coordination with National Marine Fisheries Service, it was determined that she would be transported to Clearwater Marine Aquarium for rehabilitation. This little dolphin was found very near the area where Winter had been found, exactly five years and one day later! Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute arranged the transportation and transfer to CMA and she arrived during the wrap party for Winter's movie, Dolphin Tale.

Hope, as she was named, was 2 to 3 months of age at the time of her rescue and weighed only 58 pounds. Hope was given 24 hour care by staff and volunteers and was fed every two hours. She is given a formula that consists of fish, powdered milk substitute and water blended together to create a tasty fish milkshake! Today she is about 11 months old, weighs over 150 pounds and is growing steadily. Since little Hope was still nursing when she was found and humans are not able to teach a baby dolphin how to hunt or recognize predators, she is not a candidate for release. Instead, she has found a home with CMA who promises to take special care of her.



Nicholas
You can see the scars from his sunburn on his head.
(Nicholas' Story from the Clearwater Marime Aquarium website at seewinter.com)Christmas Eve, 2002, a mother and her calf stranded and were named "Noelle" and "Nicholas" in honor of their holiday arrival. Noelle was unfortunately very sick and passed away within a few days. Our team then focused all their efforts on the six-month-old infant, Nicholas, who had received third-degree sunburns from his melon to his dorsal fin covering more than thirty percent of his body.

On

His condition was critical with severe burns leaving him prone to infection, compounded by the loss of his mother, his natural source of nutrition. The stranding team provided around-the-clock care for several months. He recovered even faster than we had hoped and his burn completely healed within nine months of daily treatment. He was also weaned off of formula and onto fish, a diet which would have been taught to him by his mother over the course of the next few years in the wild.

Nicholas will remain at CMA due to his dependent status at the time of his stranding and the lack of important life skills that develop through the mother-calf relationship.

Bailey is a very curious Green Sea Turtle.  He swam right up to the glass to get a closer look at Samantha's fingers.

Bailey
His head is lower left with his tail up in the air.
(Bailey's Story from the Clearwater Marime Aquarium website at seewinter.com)

Bailey is paralyzed in the rear flippers and suffers from a buoyancy disorder due to spinal cord damage. It is believed that Bailey was dropped from a net onto a fishing boat, thereby paralyzing him and making him unreleasable. Commercial fishing nets have posed problems for sea turtles for many years. They become entangled in the nets and often drown. As of 1987, all U.S. commercial trawling nets must use a T.E.D. or turtle excluder device to help protect sea turtles. The T.E.D. is made up of a grid of bars and an additional opening in the net. When a larger animal, such as a sea turtle, is captured in the net, they are unable to pass through the bars and can escape through the opening.

Sam in front of the houseboat used in the movie Dolphin Tale.

This is where Sam chose to buy her souvenirs.  She chose a small tailless stuffed animal, a keychain and a patch.  I told her I would buy her a fleece to sew the patch onto.

My supervisor in Afghanistan had taken his R&R last tour to Florida.  He recommended a market that served fabulous strawberry shortcake that was not far from our route back to Orlando.  4pm was too early for dinner but just the right time to ruin our dinner.  And ruin it we did.

When we got back to the house the water was warm enough for the kids to use the pool.  They liked having their own pool!