Starring "Winter" the famous Dolphin!

What a treat!  It was a beautiful, sunny, cool day today so we decided to walk over the Clearwater Bay Causeway and go to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium(CMA)!   CMA is really more of a marine hospital and rehabilitation center than what you would consider the average aquarium!  They rescue marine animals/mammals, bring them to the aquarium where they assess, prescribe and treat the injury or illness! 

Winter, the dolphin, that the movie Dolphin Tale is based on was rescued, treated and continues to rehab at the CMA.  If you have seen the movie you know the basic story.  In a nutshell, Winter (named for the season he was rescued in) was injured by an encounter with a crab pot.  His mouth was cut and his tail badly injured by the line of the crab pot.  When brought to the CMA, he was in critical condition and the staff at the aquarium held out little hope that Winter would survive!  But survive he did and he is flourishing!  Hangar industries volunteered time to design and manufacturer a prosthetic tail for Winter.  If you watch a dolphin swim, it is their tail that propels them through the water.  The worry is that Winter will sustain spinal damage if he doesn’t learn to swim with his body aligned.  It was amazing to watch the trainer working with him.

Also at the CMA was Nicholas!  Nicholas was found in the same lagoon as Winter, almost a year to the day later.  He was trying to nurse on his mother who was critically ill.  When a dolphin becomes ill, they beach themselves and the baby follows.  Both mama Noelle and baby Nicholas were rescued and brought to CMA.  Noelle died after just a few days and Nicholas was very ill because he had suffered sunburn on over 30% of his body.  Today Nicholas is healthy and happy at the CMA.  He has visible scars on his back from the burns but otherwise he is very active.  He starred in Dolphin Tale as a girl dolphin!

Nicholas put on quite the show for us!

CMA also has several sea turtles that they have rescued!  The top one is Stumpy, born with a deformed flipper and the bottom is Cocoa, a green turtle who is blind!

The walk across the bridge was beautiful and here are a few shots from the bridge! 
The last picture is a vase sponge that we bought in Tarpon Springs at the sponge dock.  I had to wait to show it to you until I had a plant in it! 
Lovin' every minute - Pat