Swimming with dolphins... Banned from the Garden!--very long

I`m only jealous!

Pat P

"Stitch Lady" wrote in message
...
"Pat Porter" wrote in message
...
I wonder whether it can do as much harm to a Dolphin to touch it as it
can
to a fish?

"stitchlady" wrote in message
...
They are amazing creatures, aren't they. I have had a swim with a
dolphin once.

Not much according to the marine biologists who organised the swim. Mind
you
it was in the ocean and not in some confined pool. Besides in my
experience
the dolphin is very tentative and wants to touch you. I think that if it
did
them harm that with their intelligence they would know that nudging their
nose against your arm, leg or bum would be harmful to them.

The dolphin decided that she wanted to drag me along in the water. That
was
absolutely amazing. You're hanging onto the dolphin with dear life going
at
speeds of up to 10 to 15 miles per hour at times. They do tend to do that
in
short spurts though and they are nice enough to swim you back to the boat
as
well.

The whole thing was organised and supervised by five marine biologists
specialising in dolphin behaviour and conservation, and under no
circumstance were the dolphins treated in a way that was not in their
nature
by them, the 11 volunteers (myself included) and it was treated as a
chance
to interact with the dolphins in their natural environment and learn from
them for conservation of the species.

It was an awesome learning experience from the most loyal and nurturing
creatures in the ocean. I am saying that because one of them had a calf
and
it was being "corralled" by two dozen dolphins and would not let any human
come near it. And we respected that.

Dolphins are social creatures with families and friends and their
behaviour
showed evidence of that. Apparently dolphins are studied closely to help
us
understand anti-social behaviour in humans because it is so rare with
dolphins (that is anti-social rather than disability in this context).

It is definitely an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my
life. :-)


Stitch Lady


---
This email has been certified to be free from viruses.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.504 / Virus Database: 302 - Release Date: 24/07/2003