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Trainer of the Day in St Augustine – Be a Dolphin Handler for the Day
  • November 15, 2020
  • By John McNamara

Are you ready to be a Dolphin Trainer for the Day in St Augustine and get an education you won’t forget? The Dolphin Conservation Center in Saint Augustine, Florida, has many programs available for all visitors with very varying tastes. There are also different programs that are aimed at specific audiences depending on what the audience is trying to achieve, get in the water with the dolphins or just have an up-close and educational experience with them.  This facility in St Augustine was the first oceanarium in the world and first to successfully breed dolphins, so you know the dolphins are treated extremely well here in St. Augustine Florida.  If you are looking for just the fun of being with the dolphins, then we have a swim or encounter with them. If you want to get a lot deeper and really learn about the dolphins and care for them, then you need to do the trainer of the day program.

Beneficial for the Duo – You the Trainee and the Dolphins!

The dolphins, you will be happy to know, also greatly benefit from the encounters you have with them during the trainer of the day. Since a lot of them were born and raised in the conservation center, they are used to dealing with people on a daily basis. It is an option for mental and physical stimulation for the beautiful sea mammals to meet a new trainer, which could be YOU! The Dolphin will enjoy meeting you as a trainee and will really respond to you during your trainer of the day experience.

Many trainees have seen Dolphins on the television, so many trainees understand that protecting the dolphins is very important. So the trainers at the facility understand that many people have never seen the ocean or had a dolphin visit and interact with a dolphin born in the wild, there is a very deep and special connection that forms between dolphin and visitor when they meet them at the facility. The visitor gets to connect with the big ocean space in the meeting with that beautiful dolphin. There is a sort of understanding that comes from that encounter and hopefully a spark to help conserve dolphins and marine life – along with all wildlife—is sparked and stays with the visitor. This is part of the training for the trainer of the day program.

trainer of the day
Hands on work with Trainer and Dolphins

The Many Tasks at Marineland

You will learn there are many different jobs at Marineland from animal care experts to dolphin trainers. To be an animal care expert a college degree is usually required. However, to be a dolphin trainer, the key thing is experience. You can gain such experience by volunteering at a zoo or animal shelter and start working with any kind of animal. Any experience with small or large animals is very useful. You can even put on your resume that you did the trainer of the day program her in St Augustine. You will get to go into the water and swim with the dolphins as part of your training. Its not all work and no fun!

Trainer and Student
You will get to go into the water with the dolphins too!

Dolphin Recognition

You will also learn there are many ways for you to recognize a dolphin. You can know by color, body shape and size, behavior and personality, and the different scars the dolphin has acquired over its lifetime. When dolphins are being observed in the wild the only way to be able to distinguish them from one another would be by the unique wear and tear on their dorsal fins. The dorsal fin serves to balance the creature and has no bones. By collecting data on the dolphin’s dorsal fin, the scientists can tell which dolphin is which.

Vocals Still a Mystery

In addition, you will get to understand the many sounds the dolphins will make. The vocalizations the dolphins make are a form of communication. Though scientists have not recognized it as an actual language as humans define language, there are differences in the pitches and lengths of the vocalizations of the dolphins. They are believed to serve as a form of communicate among them but scientists have no idea what they are saying.

The entire purpose of your trainer of the day program is to help better educate the public and aid in the understanding of the great ocean and the life in it, as well as spark a passion for conservation. It helps you get close to the animals you would be helping, form a bond with them, and harness that love for your sea friend and channel it into energy to work to conserve animals and wildlife throughout the world.

The Dolphin Training: Levels 1, 2, and 3

The trainer of the day program is not for everyone because you need to be a minimum of 12 yeas old and up. So you might want to get a kind of light introduction to the dolphin and the water with the dolphin encounter program in St Augustine, if it’s your first time ever, this is a program designed especially to help you get accustomed to the water, dolphin, and magnitude of the of being with the dolphins. It is quite a lot to take in if you have never encountered the dolphin before. This way you are made more comfortable but can still feed and play with the dolphin in shallow and safe water.

The other two programs are geared towards the more adventurous visitor, the dolphin swim programs in St Augustine, Royal and Swim Adventure. If you feel you are ready to jump straight into the deep pool water but prefer to stand there is a program where you can go into shallow water and interact with the dolphin more than the first program. This program is for when you are ready to enter dolphin’s territory and meet him in his pool habitat. You can swim in the water and really get a feeling of who the dolphin really is and their many cool behaviors like the belly ride or toe push ride. You will learn all the commands that a dolphin handler will use to help the dolphin move around the state of the art pool.

Now, back to the trainer of the day, remember, this program includes A 4 hour instructional program where you will be aiding the dolphin crew, preparing meals, feeding the Animals, attending Animal Training, observing and tracking Dolphin behaviors, hands On dolphin encounter, special Trainer-For-A-Day Tank-Top, and CD photos  Plus, Immersion or Encounter interactive session.  Guests should bring their own bathing suits & towels.  We hope to see you on any of the St Augustine dolphin programs soon!!

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