Winter, the "tail-less" dolphin.
One family-friendly attraction is the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, an active place involved in marine life rescue. Above is Winter, the Aquarium's celebrity dolphin: rescued when she was just two months old, and not expected to live, Winter's grown up to be a star, with her unique state-of-the-art prosthetic tail.
Clearwater Marine Aquarium: A Winter's Tail
The bottle-nose dolphin who'd be known as "Winter" was just two months old in winter 2005, when she was found entangled in a crab trap near Cape Canaveral. Rescuers brought her to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Not expected to survive, Winter hung on with the help of round-the-clock care; her damaged tail, however, literally fell away in pieces. Left with just a stump, nonetheless she taught herself to swim by using a side-to-side motion.
Nice story; but it gets better. Dolphins normally move their tails up and down, and doctors worried that Winter's way of swimming would damage her spine; an expert in prosthetics heard about Winter, and offered to fit her with an artificial tail. This turned out to be a challenge... Visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium site to see a video of Winter's tale, er, tail.
If you visit the Clearwater Aquarium in person, you can not only see Winter but also enjoy a Sea Life Safari Eco-Tours, "Behind the Scenes" tour, and dolphin shows and encounters.
More fun in in the Clearwater Beach / St. Petersburg Florida area:
| St. Pete / Clearwater Beach - overview | pirate cruise and boat excursions | Dali Museum | Busch Gardens Africa |
And Orlando is just two hours away!
I’ve been living in the Tampa Bay area for 17 yrs and love it. Actually finished school in Clearwater. It is great to live at a vacation spot year round.Tampa Water Damage
Clearwater is beautiful.. that is where we are from and the people here are just so nice. Be sure to stop at the island way grill.. its great!!!