SUNSHINE!

Would a sunny day be half as glorious without preceding dark days?  I think not.  We woke to a cloudy overcast with patches of blue here and there....by 10a every cloud was gone and a gorgeous clear blue sky made folks come out of their boats....boats we thought were empty produced people raving about the day.  It was so beautiful that it was hard to decide what to do first!

In our case however, it was a needed pump out...dock master plus two other captains came along to help...easiest pump out ever!....even though we had to move the boat to another dock....hardly any wind made this a quick task.

After we were tied back at the dock I went for a long walk in the Oak Hammock and then headed to the beach. On the way there I passed by the “Lagoon”, a large pond at the Marina which used to be part of the Marineland exhibit. There are many large drum fish in this pond which came in there when they were small through a pipe from the ocean.

The Marineland personnel come each day to feed them. 

There are piers in this fenced off pond where you will find scads of pelicans during the day. Today I found an  injured pelican sitting there just inside the gate. When I came near he stood up and I could see he was standing on one of his wings.

The beach looked so pretty in the sunshine.

This afternoon we discovered we could add a bit of $ to our free tickets to Marineland for a “Behind the Scenes” tour. They were all sold out except the 2p time and there were only a total of 6 of us on this tour. We could ask all the questions we wanted...what fun!

You are looking at two dolphins that are over the age of 60!

Marineland was opened in 1938 as “Marine Studios” for making films. The very first underwater Motion Picture Studio! The classic old film, “Revenge of the Creature” was shot here and Clint Eastwood was a technician working on this film. It was also the place where the TV series, “Sea Hunt” was filmed. They had a few historic photos on the walls.

Marineland was the 1^st Oceanarium....they even coined that word. In the early 1950s before Sea World and other theme parks, the first trained dolphins preformed here before huge crowds. To train the first dolphin they asked an elephant trainer who agreed but then asked, “What is a dolphin?”!

Many discoveries were made here....like the sonar of dolphins called echolocation. I always thought that dolphins and porpoises were just two different names for the same animal but learned today that they are NOT the same. Dolphins have longer noses, bigger mouths, more curved dorsal fins, and longer, leaner bodies than porpoises. There are many more species of dolphins than there are porpoises.

We were taken downstairs to watch the dolphins underwater through windows to their tanks. When the bubbles they made settled down our tour guide pointed out small white flaky stuff floating around the tank. It was the dolphin skin which they shed every TWO hours!! This takes a massive filter system to keep their water cleared. The Captain asked to see it...request granted...but hard to photograph this large area.

Back inside we continue to view old photographs for the first years of Marineland...a large round building filled with water & with many windows where cameras like this were set up to film the underwater movies.

In another room we saw a small salt water fish tank.

And bigger tanks with drum fish

 & cow rays.

And just before we left the old gal, 62 yr old Nellie, said “good-bye” without anyone commanding her.  

Marine research continues here at the University of Florida's Whitney Laboratory for Marine Biology & Medicine next door to our marina.   

In 1986 Marineland was put on the National Registry of Historic Places for its scientific research, marine education, tourism, film making & architecture.

Sunshine and an amazing place...it was a good day!

We will rise early tomorrow to continue our cruise north under blue skies!