Shark Bait!

We woke up early this morning to a severe thunderstorm and had to quickly come up with a different plan from our beach routine. Since Moira loves the ocean and fish, Mote Marine Research center was our pick for the morning.

This is a great place to explore the wonders of the sea through touch pools, exhibits, watching the work in the labs,and the training sessions for the sharks and dolphins. Moira was funny as each time the sharks came towards the patterned targets to receive they food, she screamed Big Teeth, to the amusement of many! The sea turtles and Manatees were less exciting but still interesting to her. The most captivating for all of us was the training session of Moonshine, a pantropical spotted dolphin. He was stranded in 2003 in the Florida keys with a severe sunburn. The sunburn is gone but he could not be released because he also had a liver problem. I guess that is where his name came from!

We were not going to pay for a photographer to take this photo in the huge shark jaws,but she kindly offered to take our photo when she saw me with my camera. I happily accepted because we did not yet have a group photo of our trip. After seeing these jaws, Moira really thinks that sharks have big teeth!

Fortunately, good weather came back this afternoon and we did get some beach and pool time. We are very thrilled that Moira's swimming skills are improving with all this concentrated time working with her. She is loving every minute of her vacation.