Their bodies were sleek and graceful, the skin soft to the touch, their demeanor welcoming, even if a bit skeptical. Still, they were more used to this than I was.
I spread my arms out as instructed and flapped them in the water. Romeo and Pasku, two of my dolphin snorkeling companions, then swam under my outstretched limbs, and we lay back into the water as though sunbathing. Then we went back to free swim.
Such is one of the many highlights at the Dolphin Academy, one of several up-front-and-personal animal encounters available at the Sea Aquarium on the Caribbean island of Curaçao.
I don’t usually like watching animals perform tricks that are alien to their DNA for the amusement of tourists, but at the Dolphin Academy, the residents are treated with such loving care that I swam alongside them with minimal guilt. According to trainer Yvette, the dolphins are the first priority.
“They are on a very light work schedule, and every day, it varies,” she said. “Like humans, they react better when their life is not all that predictable. And if for any reason they don’t want to perform—perhaps they’re preoccupied with a personal family situation—the program is called off.”
As if on cue, a participant related a past experience in which dolphins used to give rides to people holding onto their fins. Not anymore. Although it doesn’t harm the dolphins (some disagree), the academy got a lot of criticism in the past. Clearly, the dolphins didn’t like it, so it was stopped years ago. I nodded; point well taken. Score one for the dolphins.
