The long-awaited mass update.

Okay here is a major major update. I'll do my best to make it flow, but bear with me if I jump all over the place.

I'll start with the internship. I am on the Beluga Whale/Sea Otter team. For those of you who don't know (which I hope you do) Beluga Whales are those really blubbery large white whales you find in the Arctic. Sea Otters are cute and fuzzy.

At the Vancouver Aquarium we have 3 female adult Belugas. The oldest is named Kavna ('Kav-nah'), and she is believed to be in her early to mid 40s. The next oldest is Aurora, and she is believed to be in her mid 20s. Aurora has a daughter named Qila ('Key-lah'), who is 16 years old. Kavna is the matriarch. It took me a long time to be able to tell them apart but now the differences between them are like night and day for me. For example, Kavna's melon is much rounder and larger than the other two and she is the whitest, Qila has grey patches around her eyes and behind her blowhole, and Aurora is fairly white, with grey patches around her eyes, and has a distinctive melon shape. Aurora and Kav each have notched dorsal ridges, while Qila's is smooth. Their personalities are so different as well. I picture Qila as the mature teenager, who is very curious and adventurous. She often lifts her head out of the water to look at you, and it's super cute. Aurora is very mellow and calm. Kavna is very calm as well, and seems very comfortable with her ways.

Kavna

Aurora

Qila

We also have 3 adult Sea Otters. We have 2 males and 1 female. Our males are named Milo and Elfin. Our female's name is Tanu. Milo was born at the Lisbon Aquarium in Portugal, and he is the oldest at 12 years. Elfin and Tanu were both found abandoned off the coast of Alaska and were rescued and rehabilitated at the Aquarium. Elfin is about 10 years old and Tanu is about 7 years old. Milo is the most blonde, followed by Elfin, and then Tanu. Sea Otters get more and more blonde as they age, so if you see an extremely blonde Sea Otter, chances are they're gettin' up there in years. One thing I love about otters is that they're very high energy, and they're almost always doing something. If they are sleeping, they dry off and get super fuzzy, and therefore are very cute.

Milo and Tanu- I don't have a picture of Elfin! :( (FYI this is called rafting- when sea otters hold on to each other or another object to keep themselves from moving while they're sleeping. Yes, it's very cute.)

So my responsibilities are numerous. First thing in the morning I come in and check on buckets. Each Beluga has a day bucket which is their allotted fish for the entire day. From that bucket we make session buckets for each feed throughout the day. They get fed herring, capelin, and squid. Herring is a fattier fish and has a higher calorie content. Capelin are considered the 'veggie fish' and have more nutrients. Squid is so they get the water or hydration they need. The otters get individual buckets made up for each session. They eat a TON of food. Sea otters eat about 1/4 of their body weight every day. (AKA if you weighed 100 lbs and wanted to eat like an otter, you'd have to eat 100 quarter pounders every day- a LOT of food.) They get clams, capelin, pollock, squid, and prawns. And each otter has preferences so we have to prepare their food for them. Because they chew their food they tend to be a bit more picky about what they eat. Otter prep probably takes up most of my kitchen time.

Keep in mind, all of the seafood that our animals get is restaurant quality, and we sort through it several times by hand before it even makes it to their buckets, to ensure that they're only getting top notch fish. :)

After fish house is done I go about my daily duties- cleaning various items and doing respirations on the animals. I also observe Beluga shows and try to learn the criteria of certain behaviors and the sDs (stands for discriminative stimulus, or hand signal) for each behavior. I've also started doing the Otter talk. That took me about a week to memorize, and it was 3 pages of script. So a few times a day, while the otters are being fed, I stand on microphone next to the exhibit and educate the public about our otters and their rescue stories. It's some pretty cool information, and I like that public speaking doesn't really scare me anymore. As long as I know what I'm talking about, I'm good to go.

Me giving my otter talk. :) Waving to my adoring fans- ha!

The interns are also responsible for doing 'Daisy plays'. Daisy is our Harbor Porpoise. She was found stranded on Gonzales Beach 3 years ago when she was 4-6 weeks old and was brought to the Marine Mammal Rescue Center. She was evaluated by the vet and given a less than 10% chance of survival. But survive she did. That little porpoise made it through, and now she is a full-grown 3 year old, and has one of the biggest personalities. Because of her condition after her rehab, she was deemed non-releasable and so came to live at the aquarium. As interns our job is to entertain her essentially. We get to pick out toys and for 15 minutes we do a play session with her. She gets so many play sessions a day, I don't think she is ever bored. She's really sweet, but has an attitude at the same time. She is a porpoise, but if I had to pick something to compare her to, the most common thing said is a baby dolphin.

Daisy

Speaking of porpoises, I've also done a few volunteer shifts at the Marine Mammal Rescue Center, where they are currently caring for another little Harbor Porpoise- similar to Daisy- who goes by the name of Jack. He was found in a similar situation as Daisy, and, like Daisy, he had to be put under 24-hour surveillance. So there is always a volunteer watching him, counting his respirations, keeping his back wet (he's in a sling because he can't swim well from being stranded- it was originally Daisy's sling) and helping with his feeding sessions. He's steadily growing stronger, and he is the cutest thing. I hope that if he can't be released that he'll come to the aquarium to live with Daisy. They would make a cute little couple. The rescue center does some amazing work. Just this year alone they've rescued and rehabbed over 150 animals. They mostly get harbor seals, but had a male California Sea Lion named Flash Gordon who they just released a few weeks ago, and obviously they have Jack. Super interesting work that they do.

As far as everyone at the Aquarium goes, I love my co-workers. Everyone seems really nice and supportive, and I am learning so much from the trainers on the Beluga/Otter team, and not to mention everyone else. I'm constantly learning something, and people always take the time to explain why they're doing something the way they're doing it so I can understand.

As for Vancouver, the city is so interesting. It's a very young, cultured, green city. Everyone bike rides here, and there's public transit all over the place. It's a little big for me, and I wish I had a car so I could actually get places really easily whenever I want. Other than that I like it a lot. I do wish it was more sunny, but hey, in the Pacific Northwest you can't exactly expect sunshine all the time. I am definitely not tan like I was in Bermuda, but hey, my hair still has the highlights in it. :) I do miss my family and friends a lot, but it's nice that I have the internet and a phone here so I can keep in touch with them.

Speaking of family, my mom and dad actually came to visit me last week, from Tues-Sunday, which was awesome. After work on Tues I met up with them, we went to dinner, and then on Wednesday we toured around Grouse Mountain (which I live at the base of). It had amazing views, and I might even be inspired to try the Grouse Grind (this really intense mountain hike to the top). Afterwards we headed to Horseshoe Bay, had lunch, and then went to catch the ferry over to Nanaimo. We spent the night in Nanaimo and went touring around a bit the next day.

Dad, Me, and Mom together again in VanCity. :)

Then we went to Victoria, which is a really cool town- has a very English feel- and went WHALE WATCHING. I have always wanted to see a whale out in the ocean, and so I can finally check that off my list. We saw so many things. Elephant Seals, Harbor Seals, Steller Sea Lions, California Sea Lions, Humpback Whales, and Orcas! It was an amazing and riveting experience. The killer whales were hunting, and we even got to hear them echolocating. Our guide had been working with the company for 15 years, and he knew all the whales and their families. We saw a 21 year old male and his 4 year old brother hunting together- so cute. The humpbacks where amazing. Right before they'd go into their deep dives they would lift their tail flukes out of the water like you see in all the pictures, and it was so epic. The two we saw the most was a mother-daughter pair, and they were amazing and HUGE. Dang, whales are big. We took lots and lots of pictures. We even got to dress up in these awesome red suits- which kept us warm and actually acted as our flotation devices. How precious we looked. ;)

Me with an Orca in the background!

Mom and Dad and I on the Zodiak

That night we went to dinner at a really delicious Chinese restaurant and had some really good spring rolls. So yummy. Unfortunately I left my leftovers in the hotel fridge. :( But the next day we went up to the Butchart Gardens. The Butchart family had quite a bit of money, but they invested a LOT of time into their gardens, which were spectacular. I would love to see a wedding take place at this place, because it was huge and gorgeous. They had a Japanese Garden, a zen garden, a rose garden, you name it, they had it. There was even this old quarry that they turned into this fantastic sunken garden. So beautiful. After that we headed back to the ferry and got back into Vancouver. I got to take my parents to Legendary Noodles (this oriental place where they make the noodles by hand in front of you- SO GOOD) and then we had a chill night.

Butchart Gardens

Mom and I by the Dahlias in Butchart Gardens

The next day, Mom and Dad came to see me at the Aquarium! I got them some passes, so they came in and got to hear my otter talk- mom was filming... And they got to see a Beluga show as well. They even got to do an encounter with our Pacific White-sided Dolphins, which we all loved. They're truly amazing, and I think they had a really good time. I love being able to show people what I love and what I get to do everyday. After that, they picked me up from work, we went to dinner, and then we had another relaxing night. Sadly, they left the next morning. (I miss you Mom and Dad!) It was so nice that they were able to come out and see me. Made Vancouver seem a little more like home.

Mom meeting Spinnaker

Dad meeting Spinnaker

Me meeting Spin

Fam with Spin :) :)

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this very long update. It took me a long time haha. I hope the pictures satisfy you! :) Keep me updated, I miss everyone from home! Love you all.

Kels

First day!! (Delayed)

Also, here's a photo of me on my first day in front of the beautiful Aquarium! Ah, still had my Bermuda tan. :( I miss the sun.

Hope you enjoy me and the tribal looking orca!

Alright yo.

So I have some time to blog now, and I figure I owe everyone an update. (Plus, I Skyped my mom, and she said I really should blog.)

So much has happened in the past few weeks. This new internship is totally different from the ones I've done in the past. But then again, they were all different from each other in many ways, so in a sense it's nothing new- but all new. Make sense?

We start out in fish house. Fish house is not like fish prep at my other internships. Fish prep for those usually started out in the early morning, and was only a few hours. From there you would go about other daily duties, etcetera. Fish house lasts all day. For as many animals as we have, it is an all-day thing. It's a lot of work, but it's so intensely important to how the facility and departments run that you begin to develop a real understanding for everything that goes on.

I've beeng getting more exposure to my daily duties, which is nice and exciting. I have gotten to watch more beluga sessions, and even seen a few otter talks, which I love. The otters are so cute and fluffy. :) They're funny when they groom themselves. OTTER FACT: otters will hold hands to keep from drifting apart while they sleep. (Cue the 'aww's)

So one main difference I've noticed between this internship and Dolphin Quest, besides the difference in animals, is the uniform. Dolphin Quest I was in a bathing suit, nearly 24/7. At VanAqua, I wear: a tank top, a long sleeve shirt, my short sleeve intern t-shirt, thick wool socks, yoga pants, waterproof work pants, tall rubber boots, a hat, and occasionally my raincoat. Oh yeah. Talk about layers. We also have shorts, a fleece, and Keens (a type of shoe) as part of our uniform. Clothes clothes clothes. And we all smell like fish. All the time. It's bad. Haha! (If you're my friend on Facebook, there is a lovely picture of me posted in my uniform. Oh yeahhhh.)

Aside from that we've been trying to learn our animal FAQs and just gather our bearings and try to learn all our information. It's been a busy, educational time.

Some of you may have seen the very very sad news we had last week. Our youngest beluga, Tiqa, died on Friday morning. Losing an animal is one of the saddest things I have ever experienced. For animal trainers, it is akin to losing a family member. It is something I would not wish on anyone. That day was so sad, and it was all I could think to do to just do my duties and get everything done on time and done right. As horrible as it is, it is part of the job. Thank you to everyone who expressed support and condolences for the aquarium and the staff in this difficult time.

I'll do my best to take some pictures and get stuff uploaded. Along with more updates.

Love you all.

Bermuda-Minnesota-Vancouver

Well, like usual I'm far overdue for a post.

In case you don't have time to read this massive novel, here is my few sentence summary: I left Bermuda, was home for 5 whole days, and moved to Vancouver. I have now started my fourth internship working with Beluga whales and Sea Otters. Instead of an ocean view I now have a mountain view.

I'll start at the beginning. Leaving Bermuda was so difficult. Definitely shed some tears over that one. I learned a phenomenal amount while living and working there. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I will always look back on my memories there with a smile and a warm fuzzy feeling. The people made me feel so accepted, and it only cemented my desire to work with marine mammals- it is what I want to do with my life. It was a beautiful occurrence. I met amazing people, and I can only hope that they continue to be a part of my life.

While home, I don't think I sat still for very long. I bought myself a new computer (Kelsey=poor now- macs are pricey! ha), went to my cabin for a night with some of my besties, saw both sides of the family, and switched out my summer clothes for cooler fall/winter clothes. That part made me feel sad. But I did enjoy being home. This whole moving all over the world experience would be a lot more difficult if I didn't have that time at home in between.

Upon arrival to Vancouver, I figured out Canadian customs and immigration doesn't have a soft spot for me. It took me 3 hours to get through it. I had to wait in a excruciatingly slow line to get my work permit, and found out later that it was because all the international students were coming in. My thought process on this was, 'Ugh even after I graduate school affects me'. Haha. Anyways, finally made it to my apartment, and I absolutely love it. It's definitely a step up from my living situation in Bermuda, and I have a view of the mountain. I suppose if I can't have the ocean view, a mountain view will do alright. We have a workout room, laundry room, and a pool. I was really excited about the pool because that means I can practice for swim tests for my (hopefully) upcoming job interviews. :) I haven't had much of a chance to explore the city yet, I arrived on Saturday and started my internship on Monday. Not much of a turnaround time.

So I guess the whole reason you're all reading this is to hear about my new internship. Well I'll tell you this. It is a learning experience all over again. I've found that the best way to come into a new internship is to pretend that you don't know a thing from your other ones, and just learn it from the bottom up. So the first week we're in fish house. (For those of you from other facilities or companies, fish house=fish prep). The big difference here is that when you're in fish house, you're in fish house for the entire day. We do fish prep for 4 Belugas, 3 Pacific White-sided Dolphins, 3 Sea Otters, 6 Fur Seals, 3 Harbor Seals, 1 Harbor Porpoise (The only one under human care in North America) and 4 Steller Sea Lions. That is a LOT of fish. We have 6 sinks. 2 measuring scales. Fish house is absolutely one of the most important things to learn, because it is the basis of training at most any aquarium or zoo. How can you care for an animal without fish? How can you train an animal without fish? It is the foundation of having animals under human care. So we're in there from 7-3 all this week. It's a lot to learn, and it is a lot of fishy gut-ness and cleaning. We clean everything. It's cool though because I think my cleanliness at work is reflecting in my cleanliness at home. I scrub everything here it seems. The only real downside to fish house is that we smell like the fish we prepare. Meaning clams. Clams seriously have the most nasty smell.

Anyways, we'll be working our way up to animal time and interacting more with the animals as the weeks go on. Eventually we'll be doing the otter talk too, which is very exciting. (Thank you Challenger, for preparing me...) :) Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this, hopefully I'll have some pictures of Van City for you soon! Feel free to skype me or drop a line- I miss you all.

Love love. BERMP BERRRRMP. :)

Today was so much fun. I got to do my first Discover Dolphins program solo. I was absolutely freaked out, but Robyn said go for it. So I did. It actually went really well, and I have a bit more confidence in my program-running abilities. :)

I ran backup with Robyn today as well, and she had the absolutely brilliant idea of doing some desense during the program by having a surfboard out there. So Robyn and I sat on the surfboard in the middle of the pool during the program just messing around. It was so much fun. Then, at the end when the program was over, Robyn laid down on the surfboard and had Ely come over and footpush us on the surfboard across the length of the pool. Absolutely amazing. They are such strong animals.

I'm still reeling from how much fun it was. :) It's been Cup Match here, so everything has been crazy, and I'll take the time to update you fully sometime this week.

Hope you're all well. Love love.

Visitors and Birthdays!

Hello all!

It's been a bit since my last post, but lots has happened in that time. My visitors came! Mom and Keyla flew to Baltimore to visit my sister for a few days, and then caught a flight down to Bermuda to see me! It was so nice to see them. But first, I'll update about work a little bit.

So I've been getting more involved in programs. We are talking more during them, and I've noticed my confidence has increased. I cannot stress enough though, the importance of enthusiastic and receptive guests. It makes our job so much easier if the guests are excited and happy to be there. We do get people that come in who act like they could care less. When I see them I think to myself, 'If you don't want to do this, then why are you spending the money to do it?' It just doesn't make any sense to me. So that makes our job a little more difficult, because I know I for one feel like I have to compensate energetic-ness for their lack of it. So, if you guys ever do an interactive program, get excited! It's not everyday that you get to spend time with an animal that calls the ocean its home. It makes our job so much easier and more fun for everyone involved- plus the dolphins feed off your energy and they will get more excited as well. :)

Anyways, so last week was my birthday. :) I turned 22. I did have to work on my birthday, but when have I ever minded spending a day around dolphins. I was on photo for my birthday, so I spent my day taking pictures of everybody. I like photo, it's taught me the value of a good photograph. People always smile when they see their pictures too, which is nice. So it was a pretty busy day, and then when I came inside from shooting a program for lunch, everyone was sitting there with a cake and yelled 'Happy Birthday!' I was really surprised. It was so nice. They made me wear a tiara and took me out and bought my lunch. :) I have good friends here. And then, at the end of the day, Robyn (one of the trainers) told me to go put my camera away and come back outside. I was really confused, but then they put the tiara back on me and told me to get in the water with Caliban so I could take birthday pictures with her. It was so much fun, and Jamie (the DQ photographer) even brought his underwater camera so I have a few underwater photos with Cali as well. It was definitely one of the best days of my life.

Birthday kiss from Caliban! :)

Underwater! :)

Then, after work, I rushed home and packed up and headed into Hamilton to meet my Mom and Keyla! They arrived on my birthday- greatest birthday presents ever. :) The hotel we stayed in was amazing- infinity pool! Woo! So it was really nice to see them, and we went out to Rosa's Cantina for my birthday. The next day we went to Elbow Beach. I hadn't been there yet and it was absolutely gorgeous. They liked the pink sand and the blue water. Nice and relaxing. Then we headed to Dolphin Quest and they got to do their dolphin program! They loved it, it was very exciting to be able to show them around. They got to meet Bailey, Cavello, Caliban, and Cooper. After that we explored Dockyard and ate dinner at the Frog and Onion.

My visitors! :)

Dancing with Cali

The next day we traveled to Tom Moore's Jungle and Keyla and Mom got to jump into Blue Hole. That was so much fun. We snorkeled around and took some pictures. Afterwards we went to the Swizzle Inn for lunch- I really like that place. Good food and I love the gift shop as well. Then we made our way to St. George's and toured around. Had fun in the stocks and enjoyed some of the historic-ness of Bermuda. We took the ferry back, and we got to see Bermuda from the ocean, which was cool. We even had a local on the ferry explaining what everything was and gave us a bit of history. It's always nice to have someone from the area point things out to you. Then we hung out at the hotel for the rest of the night. We were exhausted.

Tom Moore's Jungle!

The last day I spent with them we went shopping in Hamilton a bit and then went snorkeling at Church Bay- which was beautiful but it was really rough that day, so the swimming was a bit difficult. Then we actually just went back to the hotel and spent time at the pool. We'd done so much running around the past few days that it was nice to just relax and enjoy the view. Sadly after that I had to go back to Dockyard, so they grabbed the ferry over with me and helped me bring my stuff back. Then we went to dinner and they got the ferry back to Hamilton. I hate saying goodbye, but I know I'll see them in a few weeks. So that helps. I'm glad that they were able to visit me and they were able to see where I've called home the past few months.

So last night Lindsey and I went with some of the crew from work to go see the glowworms. They only glow the day after a full moon 56 minutes after sunset or something like that. Really specific. They were really cool though, but they only glow for about 10 minutes. But that was exciting.

Then today, we had a TON of rain in the morning at work, because the outskirts of a tropical storm/hurricane hit Bermuda. Wasn't anything dangerous, it just rained a LOT. I'm still waiting for my first hurricane experience. Granted, I want it to be a small one. But a hurricane nonetheless. :) Exciting.

Anyways, that's about it for now, I'll let you guys know if anything else happens. :) Love love.

P.S. We are in the midst of a cockroach battle. We saw it, but lost it somewhere in the room. I doubt any of us are going to sleep well tonight... I hate those things. Saw one fly yesterday. Nasty buggers.

Echolocation!

Hello lovelies! Here's an update for ya!

So we've been working more on programs and getting us interns involved. Basically what we are up to now is talking about the dolphin body parts during the swim portion of the session. That includes their fins, flippers, flukes, mouth, blowhole, etc. Lots of things we can say. We've been gradually working up to doing layouts during the platform portion of sessions as well, which is exciting.

The other day I got to do a physical molding session with Marley, one of the calves. Basically it was me and the supervisor swimming around with her, and then I would just rub her down and roll her over. That's one of the best ways to build relationships with them. They're relaxed in the water, and rubbing them down is really reinforcing for them. It was so much fun.

So we occasionally do education programs for school groups or camps that come through, and sometimes we'll put a hydrophone in the water. It broadcasts to the speakers around the Keep and you can hear the dolphins whistling and can hear the clicks from their echolocation. Because of my hearing I couldn't hear the echolocation in the water like everyone else, until we had the hydrophone. I was so excited that I finally got to hear it. At the same time, I was a little bummed I couldn't hear it in the water like everybody else. I was wrong! Lottie (one of the trainers/intern coordinator) and I were paired up for a session the other day, and she knew about my hearing and how much I wanted to hear it with my own ears. So, she had one of the calves, and fed the calf right next to my ear, and I heard it! I was so happy. It's just one of those things that gives you a warm fuzzy feeling. Makes me feel better too knowing that I just have to be close by in order to hear it.

So exciting update: Mom and Keyla are visiting this week! They arrive tomorrow (my birthday!) and are staying until Friday. I am so excited. I've been a little bit homesick lately and this will definitely cure it. Plus they'll be here for my birthday! What a grand birthday present.

Anyways, hope this is enough to satiate you guys for a little while. :) I'll have another update after my visitors head home probably (sad thought!). Love love.

Adventuring :)

Alright, so I guess I'm beyond overdue for a post. I apologize to everyone for my delay. I've been very busy these past couple of weeks!

So I'll start with work. We interns have been making lots of progress. We've started talking during the programs and sharing dolphin information with the guests, as well as doing a few behaviors. I don't remember if I've mentioned DDAs before, but I'll talk about them anyway. DDA stands for Daily Dolphin Assessment. Basically it's a series of layouts that we do with the animals to check their bodies over for any scratches or injuries. We do it every morning and throughout the day. It's part of our extensive husbandry (medical behavior) routine. So they taught us interns how to do the layouts and we've been doing them in programs. It's very exciting to be able to contribute and have the animal respond to you. We've also started learning how to do those DDAs 'deep', which means that we are swimming while we do them. It's definitely different doing a behavior with an animal when you're deep, because you are fully in their environment, and it's harder to see them because you're on a lower visual level.

I'm sure you all remember my buddy Challenger. He's still hanging out, and we are feeding him and doing talks fairly often on the microphone to the guests. It's not as scary anymore, but I still feel like I talk too fast. I just like feeding him. His gaspy breaths still freak me out a little. The other day he took a breath and some lettuce shot out of his throat at me. That was... nice. (Not.)

But work has been keeping me really busy, and I'm trying really hard to progress and take initiative. It's a bit more difficult for me than the other girls I think, and I think it's because I'm shy. Takes me a little while to break out of my shell. Oh well, I'll get there. This is something that I want so badly, and I am not going to let my shyness get in the way.

Sunset off the ferry.

As far as Bermuda adventures go, I'll start with the most recent. My fellow intern Chelsea and I (yeah, I know, Chelsea Kelsey. Everyone says it.) went to the beach this Fourth of July. We got coolers and had some drinks and snacks with us, and it was a lot of fun. The beaches are BEAUTIFUL here. I don't like leaving them to go home. The only thing I will say, is I wish all of them had showers so you could rinse off the sand. I'm still finding sand in places it shouldn't be haha! But we spent the entire day at the beach and then wandered around a little outdoor night market here in Dockyard. Sadly, there were no fireworks. It's a shame, because it's my favorite holiday, but it's super expensive to import them here and pay for the show.

Panorama of the beach.

Fourth of July. :) Rough life.

We also adventured to the town of St. George a few weeks ago, and just traveled around. We put ourselves in the town stocks, which was an experience. I can definitely say I'm glad I didn't live in the medieval times, because I would have HATED being stuck in those things for a day or two. Eep!

Chelsea and I in the stocks.

The interns did a tour of the Casemates as well. Casemates used to be a soldier's barracks way back in the day- when the fort was functioning. It was also used as a prison for awhile, and is now abandoned. The museum is trying to raise money to renovate it and open it as an exhibit. The maintenance man- Andrew- took the interns and a bunch of DQ people and the archeology students that lived here on a tour of it. It was a fun time had by all. Definitely interesting, and beautiful views.

All the DQ interns at our Casemates tour! Back three from left: Annie, Chelsea, Kayla. Middle three: Liz, Lindsey, Melissa. And then me! :)

Aside from those big adventures, we've gone to Harbor Nights (which is a street festival in Hamilton) on Wednesdays, and toured around Hamilton a little bit. I will say I miss places like Target, as American as that sounds. It's nice to have one store where you can go and get everything that you need. I have found a place that sells postcards and stamps, so if you want a postcard, message me your address! :)

So I will try my hardest to update this thing more frequently. I feel like I always get so caught up in living life here that I forget to sit down and write it out. I miss all of you back home. While I am living quite the adventure here, I do miss my homeland. :) If you see my dogs, hug them. If you go to the zoo, thank God that it's still open, tell the dolphins and otters I say what's up, and that I miss them.

I hope you're all well and kicking! I hope to see many of you when I'm home for 6 days before shipping off to Vancouver to do this all over again! Love love.

Hot hot hot.

Alright, I guess I'm excessively overdue for a post.

I'm trying to think of where to start. We've been getting more and more involved with learning about training. We practiced our deep water ABs the other day, which was very exciting. Basically that means transferring an animal from one trainer to another, while one is swimming in the pool. There's something really cool about sharing the water with a 400lb animal.

Challenger is still doing well. We do turtle talk with him daily. I've done it about 3 times now (I think). It's gotten so much easier. Once you know the information it's basically just like telling someone what you know about him.

Sometimes, when we gate the animals out of the pool, the trainers and interns will jump in to cool off. We played this game called jump or dive. Basically you run towards the pool and right as you're about to jump in, someone will yell jump or dive, and you have to jump or dive. It's really hard because you're already in motion and it's rare that someone will get it right. Super fun game though.

The trainers have also started getting us involved in the programs little by little by having us share little bits of information with the guests. So we'll talk about the dolphins' stomachs or their tails- little things like that.

Aside from getting into a routine with work, I've just been hanging out and exploring Bermuda on my days off. I went to Tom Moore's Jungle yesterday with two other interns, and that was really fun. We went rock jumping. It's actually the former home of the dolphins, prior to them being moved because it got a lot of damage from a hurricane awhile back.

Life at the hostel is decent. I don't like living with so many people. Plus, our A/C just broke, so that's lovely. It's SO hot. Anyways, I hope you're all good and well. I'll try to elaborate on other things later, but right now it's just too hot.

Kels

I will try to update soon! Things have been really busy around here- but I promise I'll find time!! Just lettin' you all know I'm still kickin' over here! :)

Kels

Sunshine, turtles, and layouts!

Hello again folks! I hope you're all well and kickin'!

I suppose it's that time again. Update! Woohoo! So, I've been pretty busy these days. The first couple days were the hardest I think, because we weren't trained in on anything as far as cleaning, training, etc. Now we know how to do lots of things and I feel like I can make a solid contribution to the team here at Dolphin Quest!

My day consists of a lot of cleaning. A lot. People don't realize that jobs like this are not as glamorous as they're made out to be. We spend a lot of time elbows deep in fish and squid and scales and guts. Lovely right? Most days after I'm off work and relaxing at home I'll find a fish scale stuck to my skin somewhere- those things are stubborn.

The mornings here start off with fish prep and animal checks. We call them DDAs, or Daily Dolphin Assessments. Basically we go down to the docks first thing and do a head count, and then check them over for any scratches or injuries, etc. Essentially a visual checkup. Then we do fish prep. This entails all that elbows deep in fish loveliness. Then usually everyone else comes in to work and we start our routines of cleaning and daily maintenance around the Keep. (The Keep is the part of the military fort that Dolphin Quest is located in.) Intern responsibilities are usually centered around cleaning, Encounter Club (which is suiting up guests in life jackets and shoes for their interactive programs), weighing out fish buckets, and helping the trainers on the docks.

When I'm not on the docks with the trainers and the dolphins, my next favorite thing is taking care of Challenger. He's really grown on me. It's almost therapeutic feeding him. At least for me. The only thing that throws me off about him is his breathing. Sea turtles are really graceful animals-when they're in the water- and they usually breathe once every 2-5 hours. So when he breathes it's almost like a deep gasp. He breathes a lot when we're feeding and so it's just really intense because we're so close to him and he just lets out (or in) this huge gaspy breath. It's like whoa buddy.

Challenger/Sea Turtle facts:

-They live to about 80 years of age, and around 3 feet long and 400 lbs. (Challenger is 200 lbs and 21 years old)

-Sea Turtles have a 1/1000 chance of making it to adulthood (Which is around 21 years of age).

-Challenger is a Green Sea Turtle, and they are named Green Sea Turtles because their body fat is green due to the food they eat. (Lots of sea lettuce, algae, jellyfish, seaweed, comb jellies, etc.)

-Humans are sea turtles' worst enemies: baby turtles follow the moon back to the ocean when they hatch, and since humans like beachfront property so much, the lights on our buildings draw them the wrong way, and so they often die as a result.

-All species of sea turtle are endangered the world over.

-Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Plastic bags often look like jellyfish in the ocean, and since jellyfish are sea turtles' favorite food, they often eat them and then die. And that's sad, so recycle and save them!

Today was a fairly exciting day. I got to work on my layouts with the dolphins. Layouts are really important. We use them as part of our husbandry regimen. Essentially what they are is the dolphin laying in different positions in the water so we can examine them. My favorite part is that I got to hold a 400 lb dolphin in my arms today. :) Very exciting. Those are very basic and common behaviors, so I'm happy that they'll soon be a normal thing for me.

I think that's about it for my update today. If I think of more, I'll try to update again soon. I will also try to upload more pictures!! I hope you're all well and I'll send some more Bermudian sunshine your way!!

Environmental Shifts and Hostel Madness.

Alrighty here's a brief update for all of you.

Yesterday while I was at work, we had 12 archeology students move into the hostel. Twelve. A dozen. 8 girls and 4 guys- plus an assortment of teacher's assistants, etc. So every bed in the girls' room is full, and I'm not completely sure how I feel about it yet. They're not very quiet in the mornings, so when I come back you may find me sleeping like a rock! On the plus side, most of them seem really nice- so hopefully that keeps up for the next 5 weeks. Also, the professor (Dr. Brown) said that we could eat with them at nights if we want to, which would be amazing. So there's no complaining on that end of the spectrum. It will be interesting to see how I deal with no longer having a place to be by myself though. However, our bedroom last night was like a tomb- everyone was on their laptops or reading and I felt terrified to even make a sniffling noise. We'll see how that goes.

Anyways, yesterday at work was awesome! The first part of the day went as normal, so a lot of cleaning and helping the trainers suit up guests, etc. I fed Challenger again. He's growing on me quite a bit. Soon I'll be able to do the turtle talk to guests- which is intimidating as all heck! But right at the end of the day myself and Chelsea and Annie (two other interns) were watching the trainers do a session and they told us to grab masks and come down to the docks. I was SO excited because I hadn't done a swim session with the dolphins yet. So we got to get in the water and swim to a wall to help Bailey and Marley practice their serpentine swim behavior. Basically that means guests swim forward and they serpentine in the water in front of the guests so that they can watch them swim. We did that across the pool 4 times, and that was awesome. Then after, they gated the dolphins out and we got to dive in again and swim around in the front pool. After we climbed out, the trainers asked us to do an environmental shift. Essentially what an environmental shift is changing how we act. We often use it to gate the animals in a different way. (Gate is shifting them from pool to pool through underwater gates.) So environmental shift requires us to run yelling like banshees up and down the docks. The dolphins get so excited and start fast swimming along with us and they get rewarded really well for it. It's also amusing for us and I'm sure it's really, er, funny to watch.

Anyways, Liz and I are going into Hamilton today to go grocery shopping, and then we'll be headed to the beach afterwards. I hope you all have a relaxing day! :)

Kels

Bermuda Day and Beach!

Hello all!

Sorry I haven't updated in a little while. I've been busy and relaxing all at the same time. So, since I last posted, I was on my weekend! (Meaning, Tuesday-Wednesday) Tuesday was Bermuda Day, so that was exciting. Basically Bermuda Day is the celebration of the end of the unrest in the 70's in Bermuda. They have a big parade in town and a lot of people spend the day out on their boats. It's fairly similar to the Fourth of July, minus the fireworks. Since I didn't know somebody with a boat, I headed into town to watch the parade. I must admit, the best parts about it were the soca music and the people watching. Before it started they had people dancing the Electric Slide in the streets. I was dancing on the sidelines because I didn't have anyone to watch my stuff, but it was still fun. Then the parade started and it was pretty similar to parades in the US.

Dancing to the Electric Slide

Playing soca music!

I didn't stay for all of it because it was really hot and I had spent 3 hours sitting in the sun. Got some awesome tanlines from that- not. So I caught the ferry back to Dockyard and watched some movies until my roommates got home. The next day I went to the beach and just relaxed. It was a great day, minus my amazing sunburn. I nearly fell asleep lying on my stomach and I'm paying for it. (Note: don't fall asleep or nearly fall asleep laying in the sun!)

So today was my first day back from my weekend, and I almost feel like I'm behind. I was the first one to have a full weekend off so I'm going to kick my butt these next couple of days to catch up to everyone. BUT I did learn A-to-B's today. (I'll just call them ABs from now on). So ABs are how we send a dolphin to another person and receive a dolphin from another person. To send a dolphin, you do a slow, deliberate point away from you, and the receiving individual slaps the surface of the water to call the dolphin to them. Sounds minor, but for us interns, it was really fun, and it's an important part of sessions. It allows us to effectively rotate animals and call them to different areas in different pools. Also, I fed Challenger again. He's growing on me. He doesn't have as much personality as the dolphins do, but I kind of like bonding with him. Except it gets really hot laying on the dock holding the lettuce for him so today I had to lay on a towel. I foresee 'dock hotness' becoming an issue this summer. Stay tuned for that.

Since we live in a private hostel, we have other students coming to live with us. A group of archeology students are moving in this weekend, and I may just go insane. A room. With 12 bunk beds. 4 DQ interns. 8 archeology girls. 4 archeology guys next door. Yeah, I'll probably go crazy. We think they're going to be here for 6 weeks. You'll probably get updates on my annoyance at that as well. Woo.

COCKROACH UPDATE: Had another epic battle last night. The door between the boys and girls' rooms was open, and one scurried in from there. Unfortunately, it took refuge under my bed. We came up with titles for this one. Liz is the sniper, Melissa is cockroach killer extraordinaire, I'm eyes in the sky, and Lindsey is support. So yeah. We scared it under a dresser and Liz got it with the swiffer, which is our designated cockroach killing tool. Nasty.

Anyways, I hope this is enough to satisfy you all until something really exciting happens. I'll try to update more regularly- I just get caught up in my new island life. :) So, if you see my dogs, hug them. I miss the buggers. Later days!

Turtle turtle turtle.

Here's a quick update for all y'all. :)

Today was great! I had so much fun. I got to feed Challenger the Green Sea Turtle with my fellow intern Annie. He's absolutely massive. He's 22, and he's just now mature. He is part of a research project to see if they can be raised in human care and then released into the wild. So his part of the DQB facilities is gated directly to the ocean. They haven't released him yet, and won't be doing so for a few years, but since he's now mature, they'll start looking at him in a few years! So exciting.

Anyways, feeding him. You need a bucket, tongs, lettuce, and turtle cookies. (Turtle cookies are a Mazuri turtle food. They look like big brown pellets. Appetizing, I know- but he loves them) So one thing they stress when feeding Challenger is that you don't get your hands anywhere near his face. His beak is super sharp and he could do some serious damage to your finger. So that's what the tongs are for. He got 2 pounds of lettuce, and .75 lbs of turtle cookies. Also, since his enclosure connects to the ocean via a gate, lots of little fishies live in there with him. They've figured out it's a safe place since predators can't get in. But the little buggers are so ANNOYING. They try to take the lettuce from us. I think I accidentally 'tonged' a few fish... oops. That's what they get- it's Challenger's food!!

Anyways so that'll be an intern duty. Which I don't mind at all because he's a really cool turtle. BIG. But cool. And the rest of the day was spent doing normal intern duties and sitting in on programs. EEP. So basically that means that if the trainers needed to practice a behavior they'd pull an intern, have us sit on the submerged platforms, and let us do a couple behaviors with the dolphins. Whether it was set up the animal for a photo op, or set them up for a rub down. It was really fun. But man, those docks are hot on your feet! We kept pouring water on them so we wouldn't burn the bottoms of our feet.

Also, last night, unloading their 23,000 pound fish shipment?! I hurt SO bad. My back does not like me right now. But alas, they only get a shipment like that twice a year. And it was kind of interesting to see how it was done. But can I say, I am NOT a fan of hauling 60 lb boxes of capelin around. Stupid fish...

Anywho, tomorrow is my day off, and I'm traveling to Hamilton to get a bus/ferry pass and see some of the island! Woohoo!

Cockroach Check: We had one by the door last night when we came in from the fish shipment, and Melissa (cockroach killer extraordinaire) got it right away. She's a pro. :) Nasty bugs. Sick.

FISH.

So today went pretty well, up until about 4 o'clock, when DQB received one of their twice-yearly fish shipments. Do you know how much fish a company like this goes through? Per day even? A lot. Each dolphin eats at least a few pounds, a couple eat over 10 lbs a day. Guess how much fish we unloaded. 23,000 pounds. Twenty-three THOUSAND pounds of fish. And let me tell you, those boxes are HEAVY. I have never felt grosser in my life. It was such hard work. But I really tried my best not to complain. It's part of the internship. The trainers were helping. If you want a job like this you have to put in the effort. That's what I had to keep reminding myself. It took 4 hours. What a task. Now, to bed. I don't think I'll be able to move very well tomorrow..

The first 2 days.

Alright, I have successfully survived the first two days of my new internship with Dolphin Quest Bermuda (DQB). And may I say, whoa.

With any new job or internship, the first days and weeks are going to be stressful, because you're learning everything. There is so much information thrown at you that it's hard to comprehend it all and I know that I for one, get overwhelmed. The first day at DQB was exactly that. So much information thrown at us. Who the dolphins and turtles are, what they eat, how much they eat, why they eat it that way, the husbandry (voluntary medical behaviors) behaviors, which pool is which, where to do laundry, where to do fish prep, how to do laundry and fish prep. The list goes on and on and on. And that's not even making a dent.

My place of work- DQB!

But let me start at the beginning. I woke up at 3:45 on Monday morning to catch my flight at 6 AM to Newark. Earlyyyy. I get on my flight and sit in my seat and a middle-aged man sits next to me. Fine fine jolly good. No. 5 minutes after we get into the air, I hear this grinding noise. My hopeful naive-ness thinks it's gears grinding from the landing gear or something. Wrong again. It's the dude. He's snoring. In my FACE. It was still so early that I was too tired to care. I just laughed at the story I would soon have to tell. But he didn't stop. This guy snored the ENTIRE FLIGHT. People within a 5 foot radius could hear him. And when the flight attendant came through with the drink cart, he just looked at me and laughed. Hysterically. Thanks bro. Fortunately I do have a sense of humor and saw how unfortunately funny it was.

Anyways, had a decent layover in Newark and then hopped on my flight to Bermuda. It was probably one of the most enjoyable landings I've had. The view is gorgeous, and the water is my favorite kind of blue color. You could see the whole island (it's only 21 square miles). Customs and immigration went easily, and off I went. My cab ride was pretty interesting. The roads are SO narrow and winding. They drive on the left here (it is a UK country), and they honk at everyone they know. Since the population of the entire island is the size of Eagan, they know quite a few people. But my driver stopped at Horseshoe Bay and let me take a look. I'll have to make a day trip there. It's a beautiful beach. Absolutely gorgeous.

This is Dockyard- place where ships dock and tourists flock!

My living accomodations are... interesting. I'm living in a hostel, inside an old military fort- that is now a museum. Ha. My room has 12 beds in it- there are 3 of us now, will be 4 this weekend, and in June, every bed will be full. (An archeology class is coming through... woo). Needless to say, it'll be an adventure.

The long white building in front is where I'm living, the large building in back is the Commissioner's House.

One of the views from my front yard. :)

Speaking of adventures. Let me tell you about our epic battle:

Liz, Melissa, Kelsey VS. THE COCKROACH. Nasty.

I was laying on my bed on my computer, and I noticed movement on the wall next to me. An enormous cockroach (close to 3 inches) was skittering up my wall. I freaked out and shot off my bed and pointed it out to Liz. I believe her exact words were, 'Oh no. No. No. No.' (Bear in mind, while I do love most animals, I do not like the creepy crawlies.) It reached the ceiling and started fluttering its gross little wings. So, we summoned Melissa in, and tried to come up with a plan. Our original plan was to kill it before it made it to the floor. Plan A failed. It made it to the floor, and we took to the high bunk beds. We amassed an assortment of weapons: Liz had the swiffer, Melissa had the umbrella, and I had the flashlight. We began moving furniture to find the thing, because we all knew that we wouldn't be able to sleep until it was dead.

Every time it scurried from under something we would all scream and run away. Not effective. Finally we got it under a dresser and when it came out Melissa went nuts and killed it with a shoe. It was admittedly impressive. I don't think I've laughed so hard in my life.

The cockroach killers- from left: Liz, Melissa, myself

And so back to DQB. First day, we got there and pretty much spent the entire time reviewing company policy and understanding our responsibilities, etc. After lunch we got our uniforms, and then we watched some sessions. Which were exciting. I definitely like the way they train there. The trainers and the animals have obvious relationships and there's a huge amount of trust there. The dolphins' names are: Cirrus, Caliban, Cavello, Cooper, Ely, Bailey, and Marly. Haha try to keep that straight. All girls except for little Cooper. :)

Then, after we reviewed some more policy information and basic duties, we got to go in the water!! (My thoughts: EEEP!) We all looked pretty snazzy in our matching swimsuits and rashguards I must say. (For those who don't know, rash guards are those shirts that surfers often wear to prevent getting a body rash from their surfboard.) So we got to sit on a platform and do some basic rubdowns with Cooper and Caliban. (I think it was Caliban) :) Then one by one we got into the water and got to do a special behavior with them. I got to play the piano on Caliban's rostrum and she did a great vocal. I loved it.

After that, it was more learning the basics. After work we all took the bus to the grocery store because we were living off the food we brought. I had had Chex Mix for breakfast that morning. Ha! Bermuda is expensive let me tell you! It's crazy! Something like $6 for 6 apples.

Then we got home, and the cockroach battle ensued, and then I went to bed very tired. Today was a little more interactive at work. We didn't get in the water, but we got to learn more about our basic duties and got our hands a little dirty with fish and such. It was a lot of watching programs and getting guests suited up in wetsuits and life jackets for their encounters.

All I can say is, it's been an adventure so far, and it is definitely an island lifestyle. Hopefully I'll get used to it soon. Hope you enjoyed!

Love, Kels

The first day!

Today is the first day! EEP!

I'll let you know how it goes! :)

In Bermuda, so quick update- I'm still unpacking!

I'm living in a military fort, and we have sheep in the front yard.

The water is the most gorgeous color.

The roads are scary.

I miss my cell phone.

DQB looks awesome!

EEP!

More later.

Here we go!

Alright alright, I guess it's time to dust this sucker off...

Here's an updated on my new adventures:

On Monday, I will be flying to Bermuda (yes, Bermuda, as in the triangle) for an internship with a company called Dolphin Quest. They are a fabulous company- they do interaction programs for guests where people can get in the water and get to know the dolphins close up. I will be working as a Marine Mammal Training Intern with them, so I'll be working with the dolphins and sea turtles. I'm extremely excited and very nervous. I feel like I've been out of touch with this sort of thing, but I know they'll whip me into shape ASAP.

I'll be in Bermuda for about 3 months, and I fly home the end of August. I'm home for almost a week, and then I turn right around and fly out to Vancouver for a Marine Mammal Training Internship with the Vancouver Aquarium. I don't have all my information about this internship yet, as it's so far in advance, but I could potentially be working with Beluga whales, stellar sea lions, harbor seals, fur seals, pacific white-sided dolphins, and sea otters. Any one of those. The only specie in that list I've worked with before was sea otters, so I'll be getting some wonderful new experience. I absolutely cannot wait. A friend of mine from the Minnesota Zoo now trains at the Vancouver Aquarium, so there'll be a friendly face.

Both institutions are absolutely outstanding, and do a lot of work towards conservation and awareness. I know Vancouver has a rescue/rehab program, and Dolphin Quest is known for their veterinary practices, so I'm going to be learning an incredible amount.

People ask me if I'm excited, and in truth, yes. But not yet. I'm currently more stressed than anything else. I'm trying to plan, pack, and prepare for everything. They're two completely different environmental situations. But I've been trying to just focus on Bermuda. I'll definitely update you all as soon as I can, but don't expect anything right away, since I'll be busy from the start!

My overall thoughts on this change: 'eeeep!!'