Snorkels, and Dolphins, and Squid...Oh My!

Wow - today was jam-packed with activities. We had a great breakfast at the hotel, then on the bus we went to John Pennekamp State Park (still on Key Largo). We got outfitted with masks, fins (not flippers, only tourists call them flippers!), and snorkels (they even let us keep the snorkels!). OurWorldStrides Leader Kim gave us a lesson in how to snorkel, including the most important part, having a BUDDY! We all spit in our masks to keep them defogged (Faith especially liked that part) and off we went. We snorkeled off Cannon Beach and saw cannons and an anchor in a reconstruction of an old shipwreck. We saw many fish (grunt and snapper) and even a squid and a baby barracuda. On land we saw ibis and even an iguana (not indigenous).

For lunch it was sandwiches by the shore; some of us went on a short nature hike and others went into the Visitor's Center (great museum of marine life). Back at the hotel for a bit of pool time, and we happened to see some folks in a nearby canal helping some pilot whales rehab to go back in the wild.

On to the dolphins! We went to Dolphin Cove and had a fabulous time! We played with the dolphins named Alfonse and Kimbit, and they did various tricks with us. It was truly a wonderful time - all the students enjoyed it and the looks on their faces were priceless!

Changed clothes and headed to dinner at the Pilot House - good seafood and burgers. Afterwards we went to the Dolphin Care Center where the students dissected squid - the looks on their faces were priceless again! Alot of "ewwws" were going on, but they did dissect their own squid, found out if it was a male or female, found the beak, broke the ink sack, and wrote their names with the ink! Then everyone went to the "Touch Tank" where they learned about and got to touch many other sea creatures such as starfish (btw not a fish), conchs, hermit crabs, brittle sea stars, sea cucumbers, sponges, etc. Remember the squid that was dissected? While we were at the Touch Tank, the squid was fried and so we had a snack afterwards! Yum!