Life on Florida’s West Coast

What to Do in Florida: Experience Dolphins

One of the best things about living here in Florida is the nearly-daily opportunity to experiences some of the best our earth has to offer. I’m just a few miles from white-sand beaches. Fruit and flowers grow here all year. Twice this month I have visited an inlet on the Tampa Bay where quite literally hundreds of manatees were gathered to enjoy the warm waters. And, I can park my car on the sand, prop open my doors and watch dolphins playing in the surf.

Ah, dolphins. My sister has always had an affinity for them. She moved to Florida about four years before I did and one of the first things she did was locate a handful of dolphin rehabilitation centers where she could donate funds and be involved in supporting research, like programs that allow sick and disabled children to swim with dolphins as a form of physical therapy.

Once I moved to Florida and was able to see dolphins all round me near the Gulf beaches, I was won over as well. I started looking around at how many programs there are here in Florida dedicated to dolphins. They range from rescue and observational study to more interactive programs like the one at Sea World.

Because my daughter is so young and patience is not one of her more finely tuned personality traits just yet, I prefer a setting like Sea World where we’re guaranteed an interactive experience filled with a chance to learn everything our brains can retain about the dolphins. Plus, there is no way that by looking at dolphins in the wild I would have ever been able to see them playing with bubble rings. You have GOT to take a look at the dolphin bubbles video that Sea World has on their dolphin blog that shows their dolphins playing under water with bubble rings. If you cannot imagine what I am talking about, imagine a time when you have watched someone blow a smoke ring and apply that to air bubbles. It’s almost unbelievable – but, of course, you can see it yourself and seeing is indeed believing.

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