Happy Birthday Nellie!

Yesterday was the 60th Birthday of Nellie, the oldest dolphin in human care!!!  Nellie lives at Marineland Dolphin Adventure, a sister facility of the Georgia Aquarium!  She was born at Marineland on February 27, 1953!  She's even older than my parents! It's pretty amazing and a testament to the care that she has received throughout her life that she has out lived the average life expectancy for dolphins by over 30 years! 

 

 

These pictures came from the Marineland facebook page and celebrate some of Nellie's birthdays over the years!

Dolphin Debut!!!

Yesterday I made my waterwork debut in the show!!!  I was so nervous before the show, but luckily everything went well!  The female trainers start out learning a segment called the Ballad, which is a slower segment that celebrates the relationship between dolphins and humans, or as the song says, "somehow it was planned, animal and man." :)  

The segment of the show starts off with the Star Spinner and the dolphin having a moment. haha

After a few mimics, the trainers and the dolphins peek over the glass and wave to the audience!  Look at what a star Pukanala is!!! Love her!

The first half of the ballad ends with a peel back pec push!  So far I have only done the first half, but I am looking forward to doing the second half and whole ballads soon! :)

Sorry all these pictures are so blurry!!! I just did the old fashioned "screen capture, crop in paint" method to make these pictures out of a video, so they aren't the best quality.

Sometimes my life seems perfectly normal, but then some days it just seems so surreal!