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| There were a couple of things
acting as catalyst for my making this trip to Florida and Florida
Keys. But primarily it was the extraordinary
and relentlessly gloomy winter in Sacramento. Other than a
couple of days where we had a few minutes of sun, it had been weeks of
fog, rain, and overcast skies. Chris, my "Come to Florida Friend," had been after me for years to come her way. She exclaimed, "Come to Florida, and we'll go down to the Keys." When we talked in January, Florida was socked in unusual freeze, which severely froze the citrus crop, and had lizards falling out of trees. It was just as bleak as the rest of the country. Finally, one morning, I said, "Let me know when the lizards stop falling, and we'll talk about my visiting." One of the smartest things I did this trip, was surrendering and leaving all "what to do" plans, to my friend. My needs were simple - I wanted to be warm, and I wanted to see the sun. I knew any arrangements, Chris and her husband, Tom made, would be great! After all, they live in Florida, and would naturally know all the good stuff to see and do. It turned out to be the single BEST decision I made! The scenes above are from the Dolphin Research Center at Marathon Island Key. I wouldn't have even thought to have gone there on my own, but was quite enchanted from the visit. In 1956, Milton Santini, a local fisherman who lived at the present location, captured Mitzi and other Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and formed Santini's Porpoise School. Santini is generally regarded as a pioneer in dolphin collection and training. In 1963, Mitzi starred in the original pilot movie, Flipper, along with five of Santini's other dolphins. The movie's plot was actually based on Santini's close relationship with Mitzi. Two of the other dolphins, Little Bit and Mr. Gipper, were the parents of Tursi, who lives at the Center today, with her sons, Talon and Pax. As for the names of the individual dolphins I have pictured above, I really couldn't say - I'm not that good. However, you can visit the Dolphin Center's Meet the Pod webpage - perhaps you can identify them from the pictures provided. I know some of you folks likely thought with this blog's title, I was going to provide valuable info on another type of Flipper - the real estate flipper! I apologize for that - but perhaps next time! Written by Myrl Jeffcoat 2/15/2010 ActiveRain archived at: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1495432/the-sons-and-daughters-of-flipper
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