Beach Gypsies: dolphins

Monday, August 17, 2009

Meet Gypsy & Jax

We're back from Tranquility Bay and I have to say, that place has the PERFECT name. Even my husband, who never really relaxes for longer than one day and my girls, who don't always appreciate the art of relaxing, absolutely loved this place. It is a true laid-back in the Keys kind of place but more of that in another post. First, I want to introduce you to our new friends, Gypsy and Jax. They live at the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon Key, Florida and are they sweet! My girls went to the center to swim with the dolphins and what a fabulous treat that was. They got lucky and were in a group to themselves so they each had a dolphin to play with and 2 trainers that taught them way more than you usually get when you sign up for this.

Gypsy
This is Gypsy and she is considered dolphin "royalty" around the Keys because she is the grand daughter of Flipper, from the old TV show. She is a sweetie...very gentle and verrrry playful. She's also a bit of a show-off, but we loved it!

Jax
This is Jax. He is almost 3 years old and is named Jax because he was found
near Jacksonville, Fl. Jax had been attacked by a shark and was badly injured. They believe his mother was killed by the shark trying to defend him because otherwise she would never have left his side at such a young age. Jax is a good little boy and get this...his favorite "trick" is swimming like a shark. Too funny, huh? Anyway, in the next photo you can see he has chunks missing from his fin...thanks to the shark attack. He is covered in scars but he doesn't let his rough start to life slow him down and is everyone's favorite. My girls were so happy he was theirs for the day!

Playing around...

Taylor is playing a spitting game with the dolphin. They both take a mouthful of water and see who can spit the furthest...Jax won...and got Taylor in the face!:-)