Cover Stories
 By Nan MarshallSince the days of ancient Greece and Rome, dolphins have delighted and intrigued people with their inquisitive nature and playful manner. Always smiling (the natural curve of their mouths gives them no other choice), they perform acrobatic feats as they roll in the waves. Watch the synchronization of the dorsal fins as the dolphins swim a water ballet and marvel that with a thrust of a powerful tail (peduncle) and fins (flukes), they can propel (breach) their entire bodies out of the water. Laugh as you watch the dolphins playing with seaweed or tussling with the other dolphins. Did you know dolphins often expel bubble rings from their blowholes, use their head and nose to break the bubble into smaller circles and then swim through the rings? The Dolphin Project has been monitoring the bottlenose dolphin in estuarine waters off the coast of Georgia and lower South Carolina for more than 20 years. “By monitoring the health and abundance of our inshore dolphins, we also monitor the health of our coast,” states Peach Hubbard, president of The Dolphin Project. “The dolphin is a sentinel species, like the canary in the mine shaft. If the dolphins are sick, you can bet there is something wrong with their environment and most everything within it. This is our environment, too. We need to protect it.” Lori Muskat, a doctor in psychology, became particularly interested in dolphins in 1996 while attending a conference in England where she learned about dolphin-assisted therapy with children who had been abused. A psychotherapist from Wales told her about the dolphins’ ability to recognize the neediest of children and to pay the most attention to them, facilitating their psychological and spiritual healing. “I will never forget my first sighting of these silvery-gray animals gliding through the water,” Muskat says. “I was unprepared for how taken I would be, and how taken I continue to be by their majesty. I never dreamed that the sound of chuffing would become one of my favorite melodies. And who would have guessed that I could spend endless hours tirelessly waiting like some kind of dolphin paparazzi, for those odd triangles to break the surface of the water. The Dolphin Project offers volunteers like Muskat several ways to enjoy and learn more about the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. • Photographers record individual dolphin fins to note unique markings that help to match them with animals observed on previous surveys and track them in space and time. • Skippers (with their own boats) safely maneuver their vessels to where each volunteer can best do his or her job. • Team leaders make sure The Dolphin Project procedures are followed, the Marine Mammal Protection Act is observed, and all the data is valid. • Assistant team leaders record the dolphins’ feeding and traveling activities, their numbers, size (adults, calves, etc.) and data such as event location, time, tide and weather. • Volunteers, regardless of scientific experience, photography skills or boating prowess, are needed to conduct monthly surveys. The only requirement is that participants be over 18, complete a 90-minute basic-training workshop and continue with on-the-water training. Training is free and no reservations are required. For information on upcoming training, call 912-727-3177, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or go to www.thedolphinproject.org.  EDUCATIONAL OUTREACHA bad experience with sea sickness on a deep sea fishing expedition in New England has made Cheryl Tilton of Wilmington Island wary of going out in boat on a survey, but that does not deter her from realizing her passion for dolphins. “Every time I walk on the beach and see a dolphin, it is like I have never seen one before. I continue to be awed by this magnificent animal,” says Tilton. If you, like Tilton, appreciate dolphins but find that time on the water makes you a bit queasy, The Dolphin Project’s educational outreach program offers volunteer positions for landlubbers to work to expand the public’s knowledge and concern for our marine environment. Bottlenose dolphins are extremely smart, social and playful with each other in their natural environment. Dolphins are not interested in socializing with humans, but they are curious about us. The Education Outreach program respects that the dolphins in their natural habitat should be protected from harassment and free to roam at will. The Dolphin Project presentations include the do’s and don’ts of dolphin watching. DO enjoy watching the groups or “pods” of females and their calves as they roll, jump and dive. DO learn the facts about dolphins. Did you know that some female calves stay with their mother’s pods for life and that male calves leave the pod between 2 and 4 years of age and roam the waters individually or in bachelor groups? Though bottlenose dolphins, like all mammals, have lungs and therefore must rise to the surface to breath through the blowholes on the top of their heads, they can dive up to 984 feet below the ocean’s surface and can stay underwater for approximately 10 minutes at a time. Dolphins produce whistles and clicks, as well as the sounds of moaning, trilling, grunting, squeaking and creaking doors by pushing air back and forth between air sacs below their blowholes as they navigate, communicate, hunt and avoid predators in dark waters. DO NOT feed the dolphins. Too many years of handouts from locals, tourists and fishermen have compromised the health and welfare of dolphins. Dolphins, in relying on begging rather than natural foraging for live fish, squid and crustaceans, increase their risk of being injured by boats, entangled in fishing gear or ingesting dangerous items such as fishing hooks and unnatural items that can poison or choke. As Barbara Conway wrote after a survey with The Dolphin Project in Calibogue Sound, the May River and Broad Creek, “The dolphins approach the boat shamelessly for food and disappear with a tail slap when no handouts appear. These animals have lost their fear of humans.” In two senses of the word there are teeth in the warning to restrain from feeding the dolphins. First, dolphins have 86 to 100 sharp, cone-shaped teeth in their mouths. Many a human hand holding a fish has been grasped by a hungry dolphin. Secondly, the Marine Mammal Protection Act fines up to $20,000 and one year in jail for feeding and harassing wild marine animals. Harassment is defined as anything that interferes with the natural habitat and way of life of wild marine animals. If you know of an organization or school that would be interested in learning more about dolphins and their coastal environment (there are three versions of the presentation geared to grades K-4, 5-6 and 9-12/adult), put them in touch with Peach Hubbard at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 912-727-3177.  SUPPORTING THE DOLPHIN PROJECTA $25 contribution supports The Dolphin Project through the Adopt- A-Dolphin Program. Elementary-school educator Charlotte Keenoy says, “Though no one can predict when the adopted dolphin will next be sighted, contributing to the well-being of one dolphin increases the student’s awareness of all facets of marine ecology – the dangers of debris and the interconnectedness fish, crustaceans, kelp, turtles, etc.” The adoption kit includes a photograph of your adopted dolphin’s dorsal fin, a personalized adoption certificate, dolphin washable tattoos, a general information sheet about the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, The Dolphin Project car sticker, a list of the sightings for your dolphin and other pertinent information concerning The Dolphin Project. You can also support the protection of wild dolphins with the purchase of a “Protect Wild Dolphin” license plate. Through the sponsorship of Philippe Cousteau and his EarthEcho Foundation, South Carolina and Georgia now have these tags available. For information on how to apply for these tags, go to www.ProtectDolphin.org Whether seated in a boat, on the beach or even in an estuarine or oceanfront dwelling, residents and visitors to the Lowcountry experience paradise in the beauty and sounds of the sea. The waves crash, the sea gulls squawk, the pelicans dive, but most wondrous of all, the dolphins surface. Respect and rejoice with The Dolphin Project. Nan Marshall is a freelance writer who lives in Savannah. Photos courtesy of The Dolphin Project Read 0 Comments... >> |
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A Sonnet for Zoe
Lou Phelps is publisher of Coastal Family Magazine Read 0 Comments... >>  Rhett and Carol Mouchet chose to be parents again at an older age, and they’re loving itby Elizabeth Garcia Coastal Family Contributor Rhett Mouchet and his wife, Carol, were enjoying the freedom of being parents of almost-grown sons. Secure and successful in their careers, Rhett and Carol were surrounded by friends who, like them, had accomplished a great deal professionally and were close enough to retirement to taste the leisure, the freedom, the fun. Contrary to the norm, Rhett and Carol decided to adopt a little girl from China. And this time around, they’ve found a very different approach to parenting and life. Gathering and providing all the required paperwork to the international adoption agency was a monumental challenge and they were racing against the clock because Rhett was nearing China’s then cut-off age of 55 for adoptive parents. But Rhett saw it clearly, and felt it unmistakably. They were supposed to adopt a child. They weighed all the concerns such as financial security, health, taking care of a child for 18 years or so, fairness to the child and the fact that there would be no young, leisurely retirement. After considering the many various factors, they decided they wanted to try. “When Rhett first suggested it, I was wondering how I would manage raising her,” Carol said. “I had no idea how all of this was going to work out because the whole idea of adopting a child from another country was so overwhelming. This was a step in faith for me to trust God completely, and I became 100 percent committed.” Rhett has a tendency to want to handle things on his own. But once you’ve worked through the mountains of paperwork (it took over their dining room table for months) and followed all the procedures, you’re left maddeningly helpless. You wait. You hope. Sometimes you despair of not getting what you want. “The one lesson I’ve had a pretty hard time with in life is thinking I can fix it on my own – sometimes you need a certain amount of just absolute faith,” Rhett said. “I had done some things in life against all odds, achieved a great deal. I still have a hard time putting it into practical application – this is beyond our control, to put your faith in God.” Through all the drama of trying to adopt, the process brought Rhett and Carol closer together. Rhett is Broker-in-Charge of Melaver Mouchet, a commercial real estate brokerage firm specializing in sustainable commercial brokerage. Carol is a successful commercial real estate appraiser with Johnnie Ganem Appraisal Company. The boys – Tyler, now 20, and Chase, now 22 – settled into the idea that a little sister might be coming into the family. “A good many of our friends thought we were absolutely crazy,” Rhett said. “Most of them were polite about it. Some said, what’s lacking in your life that you’re doing this? Some thought of it as a terrific philanthropic thing. (But) it went far deeper than that.” Suddenly, wonderfully, everything came together in November 2006. A little girl, three and a half years old, was available for adoption. Now a member of the Mouchet family and six years old, Caroline is a happy, beautiful child attending Hesse Elementary. It’s been like taking all of life lessons in three short years, Rhett said. “Years ago, I wouldn’t be going to a tea party at school. I loved it! I was thinking, I’ve really changed,” he said.  “When the boys were smaller, I was so consumed with business and going to the functions I needed to go to,” Rhett said softly. “I’m really recognizing some of the foolishness of that. … I think it’s more of a lesson for me. For a long time I was all about achievement. It makes all that seem not important.”“Having a little girl is more fun than I ever imagined,” Carol said. “(And) seeing the world through the eyes of a child who had nothing and who is so full of wonder is a new and exciting experience every day. And yes, some people look at us very strangely trying to compute what in the world we are doing, but they have no idea how much love Caroline gives us every day.” They don’t feel like they’re missing out when friends their age are going out and going on adventures, child-free. “I don’t miss it at all,” Rhett said. “We either take her with us or have a great evening at home.” “The support group that surrounds you in a thing like this is so important,” whether it’s the agonizing process of adoption or the childrearing years, Rhett said. “You have friends, and then you have real friends.” Although the boys didn’t take much interest in the adoption process at first, now that Caroline is here, she’s become an important part of their lives. Rhett thinks having Caroline in the family made the boys more interested in caring about and reaching out to the community. He and Carol are proud of how the boys have embraced Caroline into the family, and proud of the young men they’ve become. “It comes down to simple things,” Rhett said. Read 0 Comments... >>  Having fun with your baby doesn’t require a trip to the toy store, fancy baby equipment or a special membership to a baby gym.Greg Bishop, author and founder of Boot Camp for New Dads, a nonprofit orientation program for fathers-to-be, offers these 12 budget-friendly activities to do with baby. 1. Take a tour of your own house with baby in a front carrier, letting him/her grab things within reach. 2. Sing songs together. It doesn’t matter if it’s a lullaby or rock ‘n’ roll as long as it’s repetitive and sung with enthusiasm. 3. Give him/her "airplane" rides through the house or yard. 4. Create some tall buildings with blocks then let him/her knock them down. 5. Put baby in a carrier and go on short hiking adventures. 6. Build an indoor obstacle course with pillows and sheets for tunnels that baby will enjoy crawling through. 7. Start a kitchen band with pots and pans and spoons and really make some noise. 8. Play “hide and seek” with toys to teach him/her how to find his/her hidden treasures. 9. Encourage your little artist with crayons or non-toxic finger paint. Spread newspaper on the kitchen floor and cover with drawing paper. 10. Bring the bath and beach toys into the tub along with a colander and let baby have a blast sinking ships and making “rain.” 11. Make funny faces together while looking in a mirror. Use shaving cream to give baby a mirror beard and moustache. 12. Make junior an instant sports fan. Watch your favorite team together on TV and practice doing the wave. According to Bishop, “Research has shown that babies benefit from time spent with dad, doing what comes naturally to dads, such as roughhousing, playing and simply showing him/her the world. Best of all, these activities don’t cost a thing.” Read 0 Comments... >>  Automobiles often become a special place for parents to bond with their children, whether it's tinkering under the hood, or seated behind the wheel for a test drive. With Father's Day approaching, WyoTech, one of the premier automotive training institutions in the country, asked its students for the best advice their fathers gave them about automotive care. Students shared their stories and the wisdom of their fathers. While some of this fatherly advice is simply about mechanics, much of it extends well beyond automotives to lessons for life. Many fathers stressed the overall importance of learning. Reymundo Delago, an automotive technology student at the Fremont, Calif., campus, says that his father also encouraged him to learn as much as possible. "My father told me: You cannot possibly learn everything there is to know about cars, so every day becomes an opportunity to learn more," says Delago. His classmate, Jose Gonzales, says that his father's advice was to “focus on education and try to learn as much about cars as possible.” Jimmy Avalos, an automotive student at the Long Beach, Calif., campus, was encouraged to “go to school and make something of myself.” Avalos adds that he has followed his father's advice by enrolling at WyoTech, and is now planning for a future in automotive repair. Caroline Gishnock, a refinishing student at the Blairsville, Penn., campus, says her father told her to “never give up. You can fix anything!” Of course, some jobs may require more elbow grease than others, but Curtis Treadaway, an automotive technology student in Fremont, says that the similar advice from his father and his father's optimistic attitude have given him a good perspective on some of life's troubles. Treat your car – and others – well was the advice that Covey Durham received. He is an automotive technology student in Fremont. His father's rule applies off the road as well – if you want to be treated with respect, it has to start with you. The best advice Nick Jensen's father gave him was simple: “Your future is in your hands.” Jensen, a Fremont automotive technology student, says his father's advice made him realize his own potential and encouraged him to pursue further education. “My dad always said that my future is in my own hands, but I didn't realize what that meant until I grew up. Now that I have begun my studies at WyoTech, I really do feel like I am in charge of my own future,” says Jensen. Andy Kunselman, director of student services at the school's Blairsville, Penn., location, says that his father never said much, but that he learned by having a role model and a mentor. “Because my dad always had a joke to tell, I learned to have fun, enjoy life and do my best to get a laugh. I also learned how to be reliable and provide for my family. I believe I learned how to be there for friends in need, and help others in general, by watching my dad.” Fathers have also passed on a love for cars. “Two days before my father passed away he was still working on his '57 Chevy station wagon. He taught me all I know about cars, and now it's my turn to teach my son,” says Charles Cuevas, an automotive student in Long Beach. Walter Davis, an automotive technology student in Fremont, shares Cuevas' passion for cars and adds that his father's best advice to him was simply to do what he loves. This inspired him to combine his passion for cars with a technical training from WyoTech, turning his love of cars into a full-time career as an automotive technician. – Source: ARAcontent Read 0 Comments... >> |
By Lou Phelps
DELIVERING A DREAM
