Sunday 3 September 2006

Swimming with Dolphins - ZooMarine - 3rd September 2006

Place: Zoomarine
Date: 3rd September 2006
Species: Bottlenose Dolphin
Main Cetacean Name: Hamlet
Other Cetacean Name: Hugo
Trainer: Bruno
Time in pool: 35-40 minutes

At 11:15am, at the meeting point, 2 trainers came out and called out our names. Then one of the trainers, Micael, led us down to the dolphin lagoon. Micael was our guide. There was a group of 11 of us, and we watched the dolphins in the left pool, until the 12th person came.
Lol, in the pool, the dolphins were having sex, hehe. There were 3 in the pool; Dino, Hugo and I forgot the others name – oops! Micael talked to us about some of the dolphins, and answered our questions. We saw the dolphins get separated into different pools and then we went into the Hut.
In the hut, Micael told us about dolphins, and we watched the slideshow. Micael was also cracking jokes. It was very cheesy, but very funny.
We then went into the changing rooms, and were given a wet-suit jacket thingy, and flip flops and a towel, as gifts.
Once we were changed, we were taken to the right dolphin pool.
In the pool there were 2 dolphins: Hamlet and Hugo, and 2 trainers: Bruno and Tiago. Lol, Hamlet and Hugo were having sex in the pool, hehe.
We then got in the pool and were split into 2 groups of 6. I went to Hamlet and Bruno. Once I was in the pool, I couldn’t stop smiling.
We greeted Hamlet and were stroking and petting him. Hamlet is an 11 year old male, not born in Zoomarine.
After the greeting of Hamlet, we each had our photos taken with him. I pet and kissed Hamlet a lot, and after my turn was up, I got to kiss Hamlet on the end of the beak.
We then got to pet Hamlet some more and gave him signals, like splashing, waving and rising up. We then got to splash Hamlet, but he splashed us more, hehe.
We were then combined with the other group, so Hamlet and Hugo could give us all a foot push – with or without a board.
The other group went first, whilst we waited in the water. Micael all gave us goggles, and he said we could watch the dolphins underwater. I used the goggles to watch the dolphins underwater, but no one else did. When I had my head underwater, I could also hear the dolphin’s echo-locating. It was very cool.
It was then out turn for the foot push. I went 2nd and did it without the board. I went into the pool, and laid down in the water, with my hands by my side. Hugo and Hamlet then swam behind me, placed their beaks on my feet and pushed me to the other side of the pool. OMG, it was so great! I really loved it.
We then went back into our groups and pet Hamlet some more. We then took it in turns to do the waltz (?) with Hamlet. I swam into the middle of the pool, held my right arm out, my hand in a cup, and Hamlet swam up to me and put his beak in my hand. He spun me round and round in the water, and he did it for quite a while, lol. It was very cool.
At the end, our groups combined, and we kissed our dolphins on the beaks and then waved them away.

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