POD-LINESS IS NEXT TO GOD-LINESS ……PODNER!
Meet all the new Dolphin babies
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New babies, new babies! THE NEWS is 2 new baby DOLPHIN SWIMMING IN THE FLORIDA KEYS!!
The first week of August was celebrated with a five-day
dolphin retreat
with two precious friends whom the dolphin remembered from our 30+ years of dolphin tours. Mother Ocean was so happy to see Ilona and Don Selke, friends and writers of
LIVING FROM VISION
, that she flattened right out and the wind held her breath.
Picture this: The sea flat calm, pure glass and still for a week straight. Not a breeze, just the trade winds at about 2 miles per hour. The water was so settled, it brought to life shades of blue that take your breath away.
After all these years touring in the shallows of the Wildlife Refuge with tints and hues of greens and browns, I am always thirsty for the
blue colors
to paint our day in. This day was a
Peace of Blue Water Journey
, much like my good friend Bill Belleville wrote in his book by the same name. I was drawn like a magnet to the drop-off 3 miles out. Imagine our delight to find a new, very new, baby dolphin when we got to the playground. What a gorgeous moment in time to have arrived! We saw the mama bring the baby up to the surface to take its breaths, as it was so young it needed help and yet mama was already teaching her baby how to live and survive. This was "Nicky's" baby, there is a nick in the front of her dorsal fin, born during the 1st week of August.
She
and
her entourage of lady birth attendants and midwives brought the baby
close
to the boat to show off the new one and introduce it to us, all while enjoying the music that Don had composed for his latest CD. We promptly named this new baby August, Augie, for short. You can even see how small and new baby Augie is, still black in color with the white lines from the womb folds just before birth.
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Meet the New Baby August. Click to watch the video!
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Just days later another pod swam up to the boat to introduce their newest podner to us while showing off their
fishing skills in this video.
Check out this
compilation
to see more of these beautiful new additions to our Key West family.
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Over 46,000 pounds of food, water, and relief supplies have been sent to our sister city,
Green Turtle Cay
, Abaco, Bahamas after it was devastated by Hurricane Dorian earlier this month.
Key West Cares
has been gathering supplies and coordinating logistics in getting this much needed aid to those in desperate times in the Bahamas. We have been sister cities since 1977 and have been working in collaboration with the Bahamian officials to help collect and organize donations to help the great people of Abaco.
Another Key West organization that has come out of this tragedy is
HEARTpack.org
which is working to donate backpacks filled with educational items like books and paper and pens, card games, etc. as well as emergency supplies and care kits for children and families. Their intention is to provide thoughtful relief supplies and words of encouragement to our Bahamian neighbors as they are getting back on their feet again.
Please consider making a donation today to help those who have been devastated by this massive relentless hurricane. Thank you!
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Click the image to donate now!
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Contact directly to make a donation or set up a drop-off for backpacks filled with love.
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Remember that old wreck Henry Ford sold to the military for a bomb target back in the day? Well, it was one of those 'islands of adventures' for me growing up. Here's one of my favorite memories...
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Wreck for Sale, trees included
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Reef Relief is a passion of mine. Their mission of training and teaching the next generation of eco-warriors is very close to my heart. This year they had a successful launch of a more scientific camp for older kids, age 10-14. These kids spent a week snorkeling, conducting experiments and learning about marine science, as well as spent 3 days camping at Fort Jefferson at the Dry Tortugas. If you are looking for something to do next summer, I highly recommend signing the kids up for this
Big Kid Coral Camp
and enjoying a couple of kid-free days in Key West. You can relax and play while they are conducting bird counts, salinity readings, coral identification and more at the historic and protected
Dry Tortugas
.
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The Summer is drawing to a close and it has been spectacular as usual. I am so pleased that Mother Nature allowed us so much calm and serene beauty. I even got to cool off while tight rope walking behind the boat. The bounty of new babies in the year of 2019 is a good harbinger for the family of dolphins that choose to live here. So much new energy to play with and they are obviously happy to interact with us. Now we come to the Fall Equinox and the time of year when the land north of us is playing its big game with colors and bringing in the bountiful harvest. Art and I will be taking off to camp and explore from time-to-time and enjoy the forest smells and fall colors on our ARTVENTURES. Call to book early and enjoy some time down in the fabulous Florida Keys this fall season with me.
Love and Laughter from your Sea Priestess,
Captain Victoria Impallomeni-Spencer
and the Dolphin
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