Jumpmaster For A Day

by GREG MAY
(Orlando, Florida)

GREG MAY Feeds A Dolphin As MITCH LIGHTSEY Looks On

My heart pounded with excitement as I walked to the end of the narrow platform that jutted out over Marineland's Circular Oceanarium.

Looking down, I could see the smiling faces of the seven dolphins as they bobbed up and down in the water.

Marineland's Jumpmaster, MITCH LIGHTSEY had just handed off the first three blue runners. Each time he held out a fish, a dolphin would leap high out of the water to grab it, then jacknife its body as it re-entered the water with hardly a splash.

Now it was my turn.

As I held the fish as high as I could over the water, I was oblivious to the hundreds of people lining the railing of the big tank. Suddenly, a sleek gray body shot upward. Seizing the fish in its teeth, the 300-pound mammal fell back into the water soaking me in a geyser of salt sea spray.

The audience laughed and applauded as I wiped the salt water from my eyes with a fishy hand. I thought I heard someone in the audience say, "Bless his heart!" I repeated the feeding twice more, each time getting splashed by the jumping dolphins.

Soaked to the skin but grinning from ear to ear, I walked off the platform as the Top Deck audience applauded.

I was ten years old and relished the moment as the announcer said, "Let's have a big hand for a brave young man!"

This was the first time I participated in Marineland's Top Deck Feeding. Many more were to follow. And through the years I was able to share the experience with friends like Karla McCullough, Ray Vendetti and my nephew, Wesley May.

I fondly remember a Marineland visit when my neighbor-friend, LINDA ELLIS, who was also ten at that time said, "Greggie, look. A baby killer whale!" What my little friend was seeing was a Pacific whiteside dolphin that had been flown to Marineland from California's Marineland of the Pacific.

There was always something new at Marineland. That was part of the fascination of visiting the World's Original Marine Attraction.

Whether it was observing freshwater dolphins in the Amazon River Exhibit or watching divers acclimating a shark, the thrills and excitement were never-ending.

From 1965 to 2005 this writer made 100 visits to Marineland. Then the tanks were drained in preparation for demolition as the new owners put the finishing touches on a newer and larger habitat for their dolphins.

The oceanfront attraction today attracts only a handful of people, but this writer hopes there's a kid out there who'll get to know how thrilling discovering the sea can be on this most famous of Florida backroads.