Dispatch from the Florida Keys - How you doing?

I love driving through the Florida Keys. Wait, let me refine that. I love driving through the Keys when I am not driving toward Key West on a Friday or driving back toward Miami on a Sunday, when traffic is, how you say, "crunchy". You see there is only one road and it is a string that beautifully threads the pearls of the Keys together. But if the string breaks, there is no Plan B unless you have a boat or a pair of flippers with you.

The drive through the Keys is unique. The scenery is incredible on US 1 as you cross large stretches of water with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. You see little islands with no habitation on them, sparkling blue waters with boaters fishing or diving, mangroves that seem to hover over the water, and the remnants of old bridges from "Flagler's Folly" - the rail line that Henry Flagler built to link Miami with Key West. 

But I also like the places you see in between those jaw-dropping stretches. US 1 is chock-a-block full of places catering to tourists. Many of them look a bit faded and kind of frozen in time. Their exteriors are decorated with fish, shells, netting, or smiling dolphins. There are souvenir shops, motels, seafood restaurants, and businesses that are all about diving and fishing, with Tom Thumb convenience stores dotting the way; and "Hurricane Evacuation Pick Up Point" signs to remind you of how vulnerable the area is during hurricane season.

en.wikipedia.org

There also is the wild life. At the top of the Keys near Florida City, you can scan the waters for salt water crocodiles - the largest population in North America. And further down on Big Pine Key and, love this name, No Name Key, there is the Key Deer refuge. The Key Deer look like the white-tailed deer common in the north but the Key Deer are a pint-sized version. I've only seen one once but driving at night I've often seen their eyes reflecting in the headlights.

Now I love nature and all (well, most) of its creatures. Even though in South Florida, as discussed previously, some of the wildlife scares me. And just as I'm coming to terms with co-existing with lizards, possums, snakes, and alligators - I still cannot step over a sewer opening on the side of a street for fear that an alligator is in there waiting to snap at my ankles - I read about some other exotic that has popped up in this tropical paradise and I get night sweats. Pythons aside, in Homestead, southwest of Miami, Nile crocodiles have been found, and they are the ones that eat humans. I used to go to an orchid show at the park where they found one (key words: "used to"). And, in keeping with the Egypt theme, Nile Monitor lizards are being sighted on the banks of South Florida canals and they eat just about anything that moves. I get dizzy just writing about it.

But at the other end of the wildlife spectrum are the warm and cuddly creatures, like the Key Deer. And my favorite South Florida resident - the dolphin. 

Years ago, I was driving along a causeway that links Miami Beach to Miami and I saw a pod of dolphins swimming in Biscayne Bay and breaking the water surface in unison. I couldn't believe it. It was love at first sight.

Then a friend asked me to ride shot gun to Marathon in the Florida Keys. She was going through some stuff and had booked a dolphin encounter at the Dolphin Research Institute to treat herself. I was happy to go along for the ride, and accompany her to what I thought would be an amusement park where the marine life put on shows. After all, there was the promise of an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet at the other end.

But my expectation of the Dolphin Research Institute could not have been more off. 

In Marathon, we pulled off US 1 into a gravel parking lot next to an unassuming building. In the middle of the lot, there was a big, faded statue of a smiling dolphin. I had passed it many times before. Inside the building was a gift shop and a desk where my friend checked in and I paid my admission fee. The staff told us that we were free to roam around until my friend's scheduled time for her encounter. 

We walked through doors outside and followed a path to the shore of the Gulf where there were pens housing dolphins. But this was not some shiny attraction where the marine life were in glass-walled pools. The dolphins were in the Gulf waters doing their thing; and they seemed genuinely happy. 

There were not a lot of visitors on that low season summer day and I wandered off to an area by myself. As I stood by the shore, a dolphin appeared swimming along with one side of it's head out of the water, seemingly staring at me as it passed. It circled around and did it again. After a few rounds, I smiled and waved to it, and to my astonishment, it seemed to react. It began swimming faster and circled back again and again. I felt this connection. It even appeared to be smiling.

A staff member came by with a bucket full of food and I asked her what the dolphin was doing. She told me that dolphins have better eye sight than humans and that, indeed, she was checking me out. I just about burst into tears. I felt like Dr. Dolittle. I was interacting one-on-one with this animal. 

After that, I couldn't get enough of the place. Each hour staff members conducted seminars about their work with the dolphins, interacting with them, and I soaked each one up, flitting about among the pens.

I then took on camera duty as my friend had her dolphin encounter. The dolphin she was to interact with, Tursi, was pregnant and the staff were trying to limit her activity but they couldn't keep her down (the dolphin, not my friend). She kept jumping out of the water and doing flips, showing off (the dolphin, not my friend). My friend got to kiss her and swim with her, and the experience left her feeling renewed (my friend, not the dolphin).

I left the place feeling elated. I thought I was going to some theme park but, instead, I had an unforgettable experience at a place with incredible staff doing incredible work. 

I've been back many times since and have grown to love the DRC more and more each time. I returned a year after my first visit, and Tursi had given birth. I saw her with her young calf, Gambit. Shout out to Tursi and Gambit!

And each time I return, I go to a pen where no one else is and chat with a dolphin as it circles around checking me out.

The thing about the DRC is that it is about the dolphins, not the visitors. You are an interloper. The staff are dedicated to the dolphins and the fee you pay is to support their work, not to make a profit. It is an awesome place and, hands down, my favorite Florida "attraction". If you are in the Keys, check it out, and if you do, talk to a dolphin and please give it my regards.

http://www.dolphins.org