I had a fabulous, rather different week. I had my normal schedule of Husbandry in the morning and Sea Camp in the afternoon. This week I learned some of the food prep, which includes peeling shrimp-heads and all. Now, I could feed the animals beginning to end all on my own! We also had a day where Chantal, the curator, was gone, so Kelly and I did all sorts of random jobs. I learned what the all the little things that went into husbandry were, such as bleaching, reptile water changes, and simple cleaning.
On Wednesday, things were a little different. The day started off normally, but around 10:30 we had a dolphin stranding call. The dolphin was fine, but he was caught in a tide pool and the tide was going down. Tybee already has extreme tides, but because it was a blue moon they were even more extreme. The tide pool was pretty good sized, but we had to sit out there with the dolphin to make sure he had enough water and the situation didn’t become worse until the tide came back in and he could make it back out to the ocean. He just swam in little ovals in the deepest part of the pool. The whole time, Chantal was in touch with the Department of Natural Resources Marine Mammal Manager.
Sea Camp is always fun! It is such a great feeling to watch the kids learn and explore. On Tuesday, during our dock lab, the kids were afraid to put their hands in the bucket, As soon as Andrea and I started pulling out all sorts of crabs and worms, they dug their hands right in.
This weekend, I got a few days off from work and Lisa, my host mom, and I went down to Atlanta and Montgomery. We stayed with her daughter in Atlanta and drove up Friday to the Equal Justice Museum and Memorial in Montgomery on Friday. It was really interesting to see the whole story for our country for enslavement to now. At the memorial, we met two really nice sisters from Zimbabwe (one now lives in Texas). It was quite a treat to hear their outlook on what is going on now and in the past. They were very kind ladies.
On Saturday, Lisa and I spent the whole day at the Georgia Aquarium. That was quite a treat! That was the biggest one I had ever been to and their was so much to see. We went the dolphin celebration and on a Behind the Seas Tour. It was quite an experience, there were so many different things that I had a chance to see.
Before I end, I just want to say that last Sunday night, we went out to the ocean at night and saw the bioluminescence. I think it could easily be the most magnificent thing I have ever seen in my life! Impossible to take a picture of, but if you ever get that chance, I highly recommend taking advantage of it, a millions times over. I have been out about every night possible since.
I am jealous you got to spend time with a dolphin – unfortunate circumstances but glad he/she was rescued.