Yesterday we went down to Marathon, Florida to the Dolphin Research Center for a "dolphin encounter" as they call it. Little sis had said she wanted to swim with dolphins for her bday gift from us, and after asking around about places that have safe, clean and humane dolphin experiences, we found out this place was the best. The DRC is the original home of Flipper and they currently do rehab and house dolphins that other aquariums cannot keep. It's a beautiful little place and you can tell the staff really love these flipper-ed guys and take really good care of them. What a beautiful afternoon! The girls loved it as much as I did! Bear acted as photographer and took pictures.
Little sis started it off with a hand shake, so cute, they come up and stick their little flippers in your hands.
Then they gave us each a kiss on the cheek!
We got a dorsal pull ride and got to do hand signals for them to show us their favorite tricks!
The DRC also has small water park area and some beautiful waterfall and gardens.
After we grabbed lunch at this neat little place on the water (the ahi tuna nachos were delish!). The windows are all open and while it was warm and humid, it was also relaxing. We watched the boats pull up and dock in the back, people coming to grab a piece of key lime pie or a cold beer from the bamboo-covered bar. (And while there was a lot of Tommy Hilfiger tropical shirts going on, but it was still nice...)
(Pretty sure she cheated here...)
and finally, had to laugh and snap a photo of this beauty. I just about peed my pants at this billboard, so fab-u-lous!
