Tag Archives: clearwater marine aquarium

Face to face with a dolphin

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Look at that face! It’s not often you get this close up to a dolphin. After our dolphin boat tour my sister and I stopped at the nearby Clearwater Marine Aquarium, home of Winter the dolphin who lost his tail (The movie Dolphin Tale was about him and filmed here). They rescue, rehabilitate and house (if needed) permanently injured dolphins, turtles, otters and other sea critters.

This huge turtle had lost his back legs.

This turtle was hit by a boat and lost his ability to submerge properly. He swims around with his butt in the air.

Some of the turtles that are rehabilitating and will be released soon.

A few of the smaller swimmers.

The ladies on the right got to feed the shark that was in the middle. He was obviously a docile shark since he’s fed several times a day.

This is Nicholas and he came right up to the window. He was found as a young baby stranded on Christmas Eve in 2002 and had 3rd degree sunburns on his back. You can still see the scars on his forehead all the way to his fin.

Debbie was sitting in front of the window and both dolphins came to check her out.

A very short video of a dolphin swimming in the big tank.

Before leaving we walked around on the upper deck where you can see Clearwater to the left and Clearwater Beach to the right.

Dolphins after Thanksgiving

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Instead of hitting the malls on Black Friday after Thanksgiving (does anyone still do that?), my sister and I went to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Even though Winter, (the dolphin who lost his tail and used a prosthetic tail) recently passed away, there are still other rescued dolphins to see. We spent the morning walking around the huge tanks watching them play. They have since taken in a new dolphin, Apollo, who was rescued near the space coast across the state. Apollo was stranded and really sick. He was found to have lost his hearing which made him unreleasable back to the wild so he will now live at the aquarium.

One of the dolphins was playing with a ball, pushing it around. He would pop it with his snout and then go chasing after it.

There are 2 rough toothed dolphins that live in the outside tank. The other dolphins at the aquarium are bottlenose dolphins.

Rudy and Rex have a great view (although it’s hard to take pictures of them in the shade). We were able to see them up close.

The dolphins don’t do tricks but if you are there during mealtime you might catch them playing around.

Remembering Winter

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It is with heavy heart that I write this. Thursday night Clearwater lost an icon. Winter, the dolphin who lost his tail and lived at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, died of a gastrointestinal infection. Specialist from around the country flew in and the best care was given to her but she had other plans. Winter was a young dolphin when she was rescued in 2005. Her tail was caught in a crab trab which resulted in her losing her tail. She was the star in her own movie “A Dolphin’s Tale”. I recently visited her back in June and you can read about that visit here. Below is an older post from 2011.

Things have changed.

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The non-profit Clearwater Marine Aquarium opened on Clearwater Beach in 1972 in a former water treatment plant. They opened as a research and learning center and by 1980 they started rehabilitating dolphins. I don’t remember going there as a child when we use to come down to Clearwater to visit my grandparents but I do remember visiting a few times with my parents when they retired down here in the early 90’s. When Brett and I moved down here 19 years ago I got an annual pass and took my Mom there to see the dolphins a lot. She was in a retirement home and was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. She lived close by and it made for a fun morning out for her. She loved just sitting and watching the dolphins and turtles swimming around. Back then you could park at the front door and walk right in. No parking decks or lines to get in, You could also get pretty close up to the dolphins.

The aquarium is home to Winter (the movie star from A Dolphin’s Tale). Winter lost her tail years ago and the aquarium was able to get a prosthetic tail to help her swim better. It’s been several years since I had been and they recently had a big addition built on (they added a 1.5 million gallon tank) so I decided to head over to the beach to see Winter on a rare Monday off. I had to pay to park in a deck, stand in a line (small one though) to get in on a Monday. I’m glad they are doing so well though. They do a lot with injured sea life here. Not just rehabilitating them here but they send teams out to rescue as well.

You walk in on the upper level and can see into the pool. I didn’t take many pictures up here since it was dark inside and the dolphins were swimming lower down in the water. This is not a dolphin show like in the old days. These are injured dolphins that are being rehabilitated that you get to see up close. Although if you hit it right at feeding time, the dolphins do perform specific behaviors as part of feeding but no jumping out of the water and flipping over.

Here’s were you want to be. There are windows all around the tank so you can walk around and see different dolphins. Winter and her best friend Hope are in the main tank.

Winter did not have on her prostetic tail while I was there. You can see she is missing her flipper. Se came pretty close to the window.

On the other side there were several other dolphins swimming close to the window. The glare from the window did not make it easy to get pictures. The dolphins in the main tank live here full time now. They all have some type of injury including vision loss, hearing loss and other illnesses where they would not survive being released back into the wild. The main goal is to release the dolphins back out and most of them do get set free after they recover.

There are also many other types of animals here including lots of turtles. All were injured at some time. You can see in that (blurry) picture on the bottom that the turtle is missing his front feet.

The new building from the upper parking deck.

Pano across the intercoastal waterway looking towards Clearwater.

Looking toward the beach from the aquarium. I should have gone over for a quick swim but the beach was packed in April, even on a Monday. Parking on the beach is also tough and expensive so there’s that. And, I was starving so it was time to head home for lunch.

Yes, masks were still required in April here. Even though a lot of it is outside, people crowd in front of the windows. Hoping my next trip is maskless.

Visiting the local movie star

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Panama was in the same pool as Winter. Named after Panama City, where she was found, she was Winter’s surrogate mother. She seemed very friendly.

Panama kept showing off her tail. She seemed to be saying “I have a tail, see!”

This is Hope, found in December of 2010. Her mother had died. She was found on the night of The Dolphin Tale wrap party so the dolphin volunteer rescue team had to leave the party early to rescue Hope.

Close up of Winter.

Winter is now in the inside pool so the lighting and shadows made it hard to get a good shot of her. She did not have on her prosthetic tail while I was there.

Hazel’s houseboat sits right next to the parking lot.

I hadn’t been to see Winter since the movie had been released. The last time I was there, the movie had been made but hadn’t come out yet.  If you haven’t seen Winter’s Dolphin Tale, you should. I have seen it several times and still shed a tear at the end. If you’re in the Tampa Bay area, stop by and see Winter. But, go early on a school day. It gets crowded fast.  You can see Winter live here at Winter’s Webcam.  You can also check out my last post about Winter here.