Did you say dolphins?

Written by: Sofia M.

As we are nearing the end of our wondrous journey here in Portugal, today we finally experienced one of the most highly anticipated activities of the trip. Full of excitement and curiosity, the thirty-five of us (as well as the program leaders and instructors) made our way onto the boat in the hopes of being able to catch a glance of a dolphin. First, the instructors who were taking us out on the boat to view the dolphins gave a short but very informative lecture on dolphins and how the government has been “protecting them. We also learned that due to certain restrictions, we were only allowed to follow dolphins around for thirty minutes. After the lecture, we enjoyed the sun and the sea for about twenty minutes or so as we got closer to where the dolphins normally congregated. Then, the first dorsal fins started popping out of the water. We all watched in complete awe as more and more of them became less shy. However, as always, all good things must come to an end. We reached the time limit for being able to view the dolphins so they wouldn’t become too stressed out with the boat and all the people. As we left the dolphin site, we engaged in an educational conversation about all the different topics we’ve learned about thus far on this program. After that, the leaders gave us a small activity to do. Essentially, we “adopted” dolphins of our choice. They passed around a few copies of pamphlets that contained the names, age, and other information about the certain dolphins that the locals have identified here off the coast of Setúbal. We wrote down all the information on our specific dolphin of choice and drew their unique dorsal fin in our notebooks. A little while later, we stopped near a rocky shore to break for lunch and to go swimming in the ocean if we wanted to. While the water was freezing, it was an incredible experience. We then had some free time to do whatever we wanted before heading to Casa da Baía to paint mosaic tiles and work on our group projects. We learned about the paints used to create the tiles and the different designs that were traditionally done here in Portugal. All in all, the day was quite fulfilling and incredible.

VC: Yesenia