Palau
Therapeutic Dolphins?
A Palau NGO Serves Visitors And Researchers
It feels like an eggplant, a wet eggplant. That was the description given by veterinarian Tomoko Yamada for what the underside of a bottle-nosed dolphin feels like. She was helping a speechless visitor at Dolphins Pacific in Palau deconstruct his first tete-a-tete with Roxanne, one of the 10 dolphins at the fledgling research facility.
The staff call the exchange—when a visitor stands waist-deep on a metal platform, gets a dolphin kiss and shakes an upright dolphin’s fins—a dolphin encounter. Set in the secured lagoon of a pristine Rock Island, the experience is breathtaking for some, downright odd for others. One man was coaxed into putting his hand inside the dolphin’s mouth.
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All visitors are smiling, generously.
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“Normally, you go into the ocean and you are trying not to touch things,” said Stella Garvie, a 30-year-old tourist from Scotland who had taken her visit to the next level, snorkeling with the dolphins.
Without question, it is also one of the newest and most unique tourist experiences you can find in the Pacific Islands today. The nearest facility like it—one similarly set in an open environment—is in the Bahamas, said Carolyn Ngiraidis, who handles the finances for Dolphins Pacific.
And it’s a hit. The experience, ranging from the dolphin encounters to scuba diving with the dolphins, has drawn 6,000 visitors since it opened in November, 2001. That translates into anywhere from $45,000 to $60,000 a month in revenues. Enough, Ngiraidis said, to cover the current operating costs of the non-profit organization, which has yet to begin its research into the therapeutic value of interaction with dolphins on the disabled. The entire facility is handicap accessible.
The dolphin facility also has the added benefit of helping diversify the limited tourism plate that Palau offers visitors, says Ngiraidis, who is also a vice-president of the Belau Tourism Association. Palau is known for its exceptional diving. But that only entices a part of the market. “So you can go diving, and kayaking, but this is now another option,” Ngiraidis said, adding that she even got a request for a dolphin wedding.
A big question as Palau heads into it most pivotal development years is how the island will draw more tourists without degrading its environment. Sitting among the network of docks and nets that keep the dolphins secured, Ngiraidis said Dolphins Pacific is one way to draw visitors and have little negative impact on the environment. Not to mention it is also tucked away in a sheltered lagoon, she says; so you hardly even see the place from the main island of Koror, a five-minute boat ride away.
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This is not to say there was not environmental opposition to the facility, which is set in chain of islands considered to be among the crown jewels of the earth’s marine biodiversity. Some people were concerned about keeping dolphins in captivity, some about the effects of a Japanese bottle-nose dolphin escaping into the wild, and what effects all this would have on local spinner dolphins.
“You have to remember the idea is to not only do research, but also to promote awareness of the dolphins and the environment we live in,” Ngiraidis adds.
The donor for the facility is Hideo “Joe” Morita, the son of the late Akiro Morita, one of the founders of Sony. Morita, has two disabled sons and, in part, pumped US$3 million into the place to further the limited research done on the healing power of dolphins on disabled people. That research should begin this summer, Ngiraidis says. To date, only a small number of people have received therapy at Dolphins Pacific. The results though have been positive, Ngiraidis says.
Craig Garvie, an environmentally conscious diver, says he debated with himself over whether to visit the facility. He was worried the dolphins were being exploited for profit.
“I talked to a lot of people before I came here,” he confided after swimming with the dolphins. “But no one had a bad thing to say.” His review: It appears the dolphins are well taken care of, and when it gets down to it: “It is a lot of fun.”
But there was also a good surprise selling point for him. Japan is the only country that still eats dolphin, his tour guide said. About 70 percent of the visitors to Dolphins Pacific are Japanese. That means there is the possibility of raising awareness with Japanese visitors about the beauty of the animal. “For me, that is a good thing,” Garvie concludes.
