Safety Dance

Today was fun. I got to do some of my first Phase 2 stuff. During our first dolphin interaction of the morning at 10am, the head of the training department asked all of us interns if we'd passed our Phase 1 test (which we had) and then told us to grab a cooler for each animal that was doing the interaction. He then took us to the back of the pool where we proceeded to be the "Safety Trainer". Safety trainer is the person who takes control of the dolphins when a trainer needs a moment to work with the guests, to get them into position, or just wants them to focus on the trainer and not the dolphin for a moment, so they send the dolphin across the pool to someone else who plays with them or feeds them. About half-way thru the program, the other two interns had to go to fish class, so I was left alone with the head of the training department, doing A->B's with 25 guests and 4 animals, including the wolphin baby in the water. That was the high point of the day. Other notable points include when I dropped a 75lb wooden platform onto my toe. I probably won't lose my toenail because I spent about half an hour squeezing blood out from under it in order to prevent a pressure buildup that will pop the nail off, so...here's hoping. Despite the plummeting platform, I had a fun day, and I don't have to be at the cookie shop until noon tomorrow, so hurray for sleeping in.