Our dolphins love local resident Barbara Church & her friends

This morning Barbara brought two friends from California to meet our dolphins and the dolphins loved all three of them. Within minutes away from the dock we were greeted by two dolphins that sang to us, rode at our bow, played ring around the boat, leaped three times right next to all four of us, and sprayed in our faces. A magical dance to bring joy to us all. And of course Rozzi the dolphin dog had a great time too. WOO WOO I love these people....

Dolphin Killed by Stingray barb in his heart

We lost one of our wild dolphins of South Padre Island some years ago to a stingray barb in his heart.
We found Pilgrim washed ashore in the Laguna Madre Bay very sick. He was brought to the Coastal Studies Lab and put in one of the holding tanks and the vet and marine mammal stranding group was called in. The dolphin could not swim on his own and seemed in extreme pain, especially when trying to nibble his fish. He died when being fed a fish which put pressure on the area that the barb was penetrating (Usually there is a death roll and any one in the tank with the sick dolphin has to be careful not to be hit by the dying dolphin.)
The vet from the Glady's Porter Zoo let Seth help with the necropsy. They found, at the stomach, there was a large sore that had healed over. They followed the scar tissue which led a path thru the young male's stomach and then on thru his lung and finally in his heart they found the barb of a stingray.
This dolphin had lived for quite sometime,in pain, while this barb always on a forward path with its serrated edges, made the journey thru his body and unfortunately into his heart instead of out of his body by a harmless route.
We are not sure of how he encountered the stingray so that the barb entered his body, but he may well have swam over this stringray in shallow water and surprised the ray into the defense mode and more than just the tip of the barb entered the dolphin. Enough of it entered that it pulled out of the stingray and into the dolphin's stomach area. Any family member trying to help would not be able to pull the barb out. It would now have to travel thru his body.
It is a sad ending for this dolphin and a very rare event.

offshore today

TodayGeorge and I were invited on a friend's , David Benn, and his long time friend Jim's off shore boat. We were fishing for king fish when a large group of dolphin approached us and played under our bow. We forgot about fishing for a while for the water was super clear, blue water and we could see the dolphins so easily. They were many and I did not recognize them until Pinky showed up. She is the spotted pink one and I have only seen her once before. This group I feel is an inshore but not bay group. I was able to document most of the group's fins. We also watched a ling fish around a bouy outsmart all the hooks. It was a beautiful day and a slight northerly wind came in which will bring on more of the bird mirgration that has already begun for the fall.

A SPONTANEOUS ENCOUNTER

Dancing with dolphins Fernando, Diego and Carmalita join Rozzi and me on a spontaneous trip to see our wild dolphins of the Laguna Madre. Fernando calls me and says we want to see your dolphins and the sooner the better. I said let's go now and Fernando says Yes we will be right there.
The dolphins went crazy over this family. They were so taken with them that they literally followed us back to the dock, all the way right to the dock. Never have the dolphins taken us back to the dock, many times to the marina but never right to the dock.
I have been taking dolphin lovers out with me for over ten years and this is one of the most incredible trips where the dolphins fell in love with these three wonderful people. They sensed the joyfulness and happiness of this family and they love that ability in those humans that can express this quality. Gumdrop came right to the boat and showed his face to little Diego. And his brother Gummybear waved his tail.