Category Archives: animals

Theater Of The Sea

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Theater of the Sea

Theater of the SeaTheater Of The Sea

Theater of the Sea is located on Islamorada in the Florida Keys. It’s a Marine Mammal Park. I read the web site but I was still a bit overwhelmed with the choices. You have general admission, swim with Dolphins, wade with dolphins, and meet the dolphin. If dolphins aren’t your preferred mammal then you can swim with a sea lion. Are reptiles more your speed? Then you can sign up to feed and interact with a sea turtle. So many choices, so little time. Plus your choices can really eat into your budget. Each interaction will add on $65.00 – $200.00. I just couldn’t decide.

General Admission

I was excited to be going to Theater of the Sea. I’d been thinking about swimming with Dolphins since I missed out when I went to Nassau many trips ago. But how to choose between Swimming, wading or meeting the dolphins? I decided to test the waters by sticking to a general admission ticket. A general admission ticket was only $40.00 ($39.95) and offers dolphin, sea lion, and parrot shows, a bottomless boat ride, a lagoon-side beach, as well as a fish and reptile tour with tropical fish, sharks, sea turtles, stingrays, alligators, and crocodiles. It sounded like I’d cover all of the options. 

Arrive Early

The Box office opens at 9:30 am and I was there on the dot. There were only a few cars in the lot when I arrived. You enter through the gift shop. The clerk gave me a friendly greeting and took my money for the general admission. She told me the shows are continuous so I could join in or drop out at any time. I could rejoin any that I missed. 

Theater of the Sea

 

I caught up with the fish and reptile tour first. Alligators and crocodiles, loads of sea turtles, the tour was fun and informative. At each enclosure the guide stopped to spend time with the animal. The animals all recognized what was coming- food! They were all hand fed by the guide. 

Theater of the sea

 

 

 

Wildlife Abounds in Key Largo

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Wildlife abounds in Key Largo

Key Largo seems to be a pretty urban setting for wildlife. There are souvenir shops all along RT 1. Mixed in with the Denny’s, Wendy’s and McDonalds are local restaurants , resorts, marinas and fish places. Not exactly what you’d expect for a wildlife nature reserve. Still when I pulled into Ocean Point the first thing I spotted was a feral cat. Definitely feral it was shy and very scruffy looking. The next thing I saw was a sign saying “Don’t feed the Raccoons.” OK both are urban wildlife but wait till I tell you what happened Monday Morning.

Wildlife aboundsMonday Monday

As I was pulling out from my overnight parking something dark slipped into the brush. I froze and watched but didn’t get another glimpse of it. Raccoon, feral cat or something else, I couldn’t tell you. Back in my car I headed for the local Publix (Grocery store) to pick up some breakfast items.  When I came out of the store there was a chicken on my front bumper. Now chickens roam wild in the Keys. Key West is known for them so I wasn’t too surprised to see it there. What did surprise me was when a big huge hawk came swooping down right in front of me trying to grab that chicken! Feathers flew and that chicken started squawking but in the end she avoided becoming the hawks breakfast. I admit I was flabbergasted. I’ve never been that close to the action so to speak. (Unless you count being chased by Buffalo in Yellowstone.)

Wildlife abounds in Key Largo

 

 

 

Wildlife in Key LargoLittle lizards and all

In the afternoon I stopped into John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park to check out the snorkeling, scuba diving and glass bottom boat trips. It’s been windy so they’ve been canceled so far. They told me to check back on Wednesday. This happened when I was in Key West too. They do have shore snorkeling at Cannon Beach for free.  You just need to rent or buy gear. But watch out for crocodiles.  The Keys and the southern tip of the Everglades are the only place in the US where we have crocodiles and alligators.  I didn’t see any today but I did spot a couple of iguanas and a little anole.

 

Wildlife abounds in Key Largo

Ode to Rocky- Leavin’ on a Jet Plane

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Rocky this one’s for you

All my bags are packed I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’ it’s early morn
The taxi’s waitin’ he’s blowin’ his horn
Already I’m so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
       Oh babe, I hate to go

It’s Always Hard

As much as I like to travel it’s always hard to say goodbye to my loyal companion, my furry four legged baby, My Rocky-Poo. I know it sounds stupid. He’s just a cat but he’s been with me for 18 years. He trusts me and no matter what the pet haters say, I believe he loves me. Animals don’t understand. You can say you’ll be back in a week as many times as you want but they don’t understand. As Rocky has gotten older I’ve fretted more and more each time I leave. Thankfully we have a great pet sitter. She’s been taking care of Rocky for 13 years. He loves her as much as he does me.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

So Rocky-poo this one’s for you. I’m on that jet plane off for adventure but I’ll be thinking of you. I’ll miss your fuzzy body curled up next to me. I’ll miss your evening snuggles and your morning demands for breakfast. But hang in there because I’ll be back. Trust me when I tell you that you are better off at home than riding with me on my annual adventure. You’ll be pampered and fussed over while I’m away. You’ll be so spoiled you’ll never miss me. So be good little kitty. I love you bunches and will see you soon.

A Sure Sign Of Fall

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New England Colors 2018

Its a Sure Sign Of Fall

Turkeys behind the office- Canton MA 2019

A sure sign that its fall in New England isn’t just the colorful foliage. Its the return of the turkeys. Some communities have reported the turkeys all year ’round but I usually see them in the fall.  How brave these birds are …or maybe stupid…to show up right before the big day. You know the one, pie, stuffing green bean casserole and oh yeah, that big bird in the middle of the table ready for carving. Do you suppose these wild birds know that we use turkeys that we grew just for the purpose of eating? 

Wild Turkeys Canton MA Oct 2019

Wild Turkeys are Mean

The wild turkeys we have around here are bold and aggressive. They have been known to trap motorists in their cars. They are either stupid or very brave as they show no fear of humans. Me, I’m kind of on the fence. I’ve been threatened by more Canada Geese than I have Turkeys. I like to photograph them. Now that I know they are back I plan to bring the good camera with me instead of relying my cell phone camera. I love when the males start strutting around, fanning their tails and displaying for all the lady turkeys.

Strange Turkey Behaviors

There was a turkey video that made it on to an Animal Planet show and I recently saw it again on “Strange Evidence”. Filmed in Randolph MA it seems to show a satanic turkey ritual. Why not? Randolph Is  only  a hop skip and jump from Salem MA. Why not a Coven of Turkeys?

Watch Out Turkeys

So all you Turkeys out there whether wild or witches BEWARE.  Turkey hunting season is upon us. Yes here in MA we can start defending ourselves on October 22. There are still some folks who prefer a wild turkey rather than domestic turkey for the center piece of their Thanksgiving table. 

 

Gone “Sharkin”

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“Sharkin” on Cape Cod

Flash Back to Jaws (1975) when the fictional town of Amity on Martha’s Vineyard was terrorized by a great white shark.  Chief  Brody, marine biologist Hooper and shark hunter Quint took “Sharkin” to a new level as they pulled out all the stops to catch the murderous Great White. Shades of Captain Ahab and Moby Dick. Anyway, last year Cape Cod had it’s first fatal shark attack in 82 years! Everyone was horrified and as this year arrived towns along the Cape struggled to find ways to protect vacationers when they entered the shark’s domain.

The Shark App

The Atlantic Great White Conservancy created a Shark App ( There’s an app for that) that alerts when a shark is sighted and lets you know where, which beaches are closed and for how long. My app had been blowing up and I was determined to see a white shark in its natural environment. Whale watch boats reported seeing sharks feeding on a whale carcass. Sharks were stealing fish right off the lines of guests on fishing charters. Was I around when these things were happening? Of course not. I couldn’t be that lucky. So I picked a day to take off from work to go to the Cape to look for sharks. I told everyone at work I was going “Sharkin”. Of course it hadn’t rained in a week but it did that day. 

The Atlantic Great White Conservancy

My app was strangely quiet. Either the sharks didn’t like the rain or  no one was at the beach to see them. My friend Nancy and I wound up in Chatham. We planned to go to the Fish Pier for lunch and watch the seals. On the way there we spotted the Atlantic Great White Conservancy. What a neat little museum. It was pretty crowded because no one wanted to go to the beach in the rain but even though we couldn’t turn around without bumping into someone we had fun. The last room was a virtual reality room where we donned  a headset and voila- we were swimming with sharks! And we didn’t even get wet!

 

 

Beachcomber Seal Tour

We wrapped up our Cape day by visiting the seals with Beachcomber Seal Tours. We didn’t see any sharks because the tour stayed in the inner harbor and so far the sharks haven’t ventured in. The channels and low water level seem to discourage them. But there were certainly enough seals for the sharks to have a hearty lunch if they wanted to drop by. The light misty drizzle changed to serious rain while we were on the water. The captain pulled out the disposable rain capes and pretty soon our boat looked like a convention of ghosts with the breeze flapping our ponchos. Our “Sharkin” day  didn’t yield any sharks but we had a good time anyway.