Dolphins and Pigeon Key

I walked next door to the Dolphin Research Center and got to experience some training sessions with dolphins. This location was established for training dolphins in 1951 and has gone through several hands before becoming this research center. Remember Flipper? Parts of that TV show were filmed here and the 4 dolphins that played Flipper came from here. In fact, their descendants still live here.  They have 20 dolphins, 2 baby dolphins and lots of volunteers and trainers. I got a personal tour from a volunteer and watched people swim with the dolphins, training and feeding. Very interesting.

During the afternoon, we drove down to the Seven Mile Bridge. Under that bridge is the original road/bridge that goes over an island called Pigeon Key, a national historic place. We walked out to the island, about 2 miles one way, and got a personal tour of the island and the buildings and the history of Henry Flagler, father of Florida. Flagler built the railroad that connected all the islands along the keys from Miami to Key West. Flagler also built destination resorts to lure more people to Florida. This island was where all the workers lived that built the railroad. That railroad bed eventually became the roadway, and was eventually replaced by new wider bridges which you can see in the background of the picture.