When dolphins ... attach

Although it has been nearly a month since we returned from Hawaii, our experiences during that two-week period have been lingering. One of the experiences, the last day we were there, was especially … well, special.

Our old friends, Matt and Aliza, introduced us to some new friends, a family of bottlenose dolphins (BJ, Boris and Ho'olono, the momma, papa and son, respectively) and a false killer whale, Kina.

The animals live in an outpost on Coconut Island (history buffs will note Gilligan’s Island was filmed there), and the University of Hawaii has been conducting research on these animals, along with everything from local fish to aquatic plants. Besides a very small patch of beach, you can't even visit the island without a "resident" scientist, and apparently soft science doesn't count. 

Thanks to Aliza, we had our own private tour and were able to interact, feed and even play some games with our new friends. 

However, like the rest of our trip, time crept up on us and we had to leave. So we threw BJ one more alley-oop, slapped a few flippers and headed to the airport. The entire trip was a refreshing blend of old and new and now that our ohana includes a new species, we'll have another place to crash the next time we visit.