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!!