A Little Positive Reinforcement
June 15, 2009.
A date that will be forever etched into my memory. That was my first day of an experience that I’ve treasured since then and will continue to do so for the rest of my days. I started working with dolphins.
Back in 2007, I decided to move to Roatan. I was bored of Tegucigalpa, in my mid-20s, single and thirsty for something new. I took a job managing the front desk for one of West Bay’s most popular resorts. I quickly came to terms with the fact that, even if it is in a Caribbean paradise, managing a front desk is tough work. Hours were long, stress was high and even vacationing guests were high-strung. I had to learn to let go of the stress before it drowned me.
With the bad, came the good: I learned how to speak Italian.
I had an awesome relationship with the maintenance and cleaning staff. The feeling of camaraderie was always there because we fought an uphill battle to keep everybody happy together. A little over a year went by and I was lured in to fill a similar position in a more upscale resort. I gladly took that opportunity, mostly because my opportunities to advance at my position were very limited and I constantly bumped heads with the manager who always chose cost-cutting quick fixes to long-term problems. I felt frustrated because he would never listen to sustainable solutions to problems as long as he could fix them temporarily on the cheap.
Everything wrong with my previous job felt right in this new one.
Management was open to feedback. We had open discussions of why my ideas were not sustainable if they weren’t and I was commended when my projects went well. I was happy and productive. Then in May of 2009, Honduras’s political climate was left uncertain after the president at the time was forcefully chased out of the country. Since I was new to the resort, I was one of the first cuts to reduce staff in preparation for a very low season ahead.
During my time there, I met a lot of people who owned condos in the resort grounds. One of the couples happened to run the dolphin program on the island. I reached out to them and asked if they needed any help.
To my surprise, the answer was positive.
It turns out, they were nearby when I was talking to an Italian guest that was upset one night. They had plenty of Italian guests and nobody on their staff who could speak the language. They told me the “dolphin stuff” can be taught and that they needed someone with my language and personal skills. Which brings me to the date I mentioned at the start, my first day there.
The first thing I noticed about the dolphins was their movement. Smooth and graceful, powerful and strong all in one sleek, beautiful animal. I’ll never forget when I touched one for the first time. Skin so smooth your brain refuses to believe it’s not polished and waxed. Simply amazing. As hours turned into days, and days into weeks, I got into the nitty gritty of it all. The day started and ended in the fish house. These animals eat upwards of 30 pounds of fish everyday, which needs to be sorted. And there was, at the time, close to 30 dolphins in our facility. The fish they eat is delivered in boxes all the way from Canada. It’s ordered 50,000 pounds at a time and it was up to the trainers to unload the fish and store it properly, so it could get sorted everyday. Any imperfection meant the fish had to be discarded. But it wasn’t wasted. It was used as chum for the shark dive on the other end of the island (which I got to do for free whenever I wanted). The sorted fish was then put into coolers for each dolphin. It was tedious work, but everyone did it with a smile. As I would soon find out, once you build a relationship with a dolphin, you’d be willing to do anything and everything for its well-being.
It wasn’t long before I was assigned as a backup trainer for 2 dolphins. Bailey and Ken. Both of them were born there, and I was familiar with both of their moms, Cedeña and Beasley respectively.
Kenny and I clicked right away. He got to know me well and pretty soon would seek me out when we were swimming freely in the pen, looking to play. It’s hard to describe just how much you grow to love your animals. Bailey was a little aloof at first and made me work for it, but in the end, I won her heart. She had mine as well. Bailey and Ken were both adolescent at that time and it means exactly the same in both species; lots of energy and very limited focus.
The way we trained them was through positive reinforcement.
If they did well, they were cheered on. If they didn’t, they were ignored and got another chance to do it again. Ken was a sucker for attention, so this worked well for him. Our training sessions were always fun. Bailey had attitude issues. Whenever I ignored her, she would just swim off and hunt on her own. I always got a kick out of that, but could never let Bailey know. They’re very perceptive and she would’ve known she could get away with it just because it made me laugh. It’s amazing what a little positive reinforcement can do. Even though feeding time and training sessions were tied together, the dolphin’s response to a pat on the back and a heartfelt “Good job!” always amazed me. They got truly excited and as the dolphins grew to trust you more, the more they would do for this affection you shared with them.
As time passed by, I got more responsibility. I was assigned to more dolphins. Hector and Gracie. Hector was a big boy, at 8.5 ft and nearly 500 lbs. He’s the alpha male. I didn’t know what to expect, but I soon found out that he was always hungry and had a very sweet side. Hector was a part of the open water diving program and, in spite of being a big boy, he was always super cautious around new animals he encountered. He always rushed to my side and needed reassurance that the eagle ray(or big grouper) swimming past had no intention of doing anything bad. Gracie is in a league of her own, I must say. She’s smart and has a beautiful soul. When she looked at me, I saw she had much to share.
I ended up becoming a big part of the operation. I had my dolphins, I took care of inventory, I was involved in nearly every dolphin encounter and dolphin dive (which we did in open water). I enjoyed nearly everyday there. There were some tough days though. Once, there was a hurricane warning, so we took some of the dolphins to inland pools. The girls (which Bailey was a part of) got used to it pretty soon, with no problem. The boys (which Kenny was a part of) got used to it fairly quickly as well… except for Ken. He wouldn’t swim with the rest of the boys. He’d just stay in the middle of the pool, and only surface to breathe. I was so worried, I spent the night out there with him, in what turned out to be a relatively mild storm. I was cold, wet and tired by the time morning came, but my boy was doing better, so I was ok. I felt like he could sense how worried I was for him and responded well to my presence and constant reassurance that everything would be ok. A year or so after that, Ken and his brother Dixon got sent to another facility in the Bahamas. Our facility was on the small side for the number of dolphins we had, and the one in Bahamas had a similar setup, so the move made sense on paper.
It broke my heart to say goodbye.
It’s been over 5 years since that day, and I still think it was one of the most painful things I’ve been through. I ended up leaving at the end of that year. Chronic back problems and increasing concern for the condition of my skin (after 4+ years of working under the sun) twisted my arm and I finally decided to resign. I returned to Tegucigalpa in the end of 2013. I’d made an investment for a business with a friend (that didn’t work out) and I’d already met the amazing woman that is now my wife, so it made sense to come back.
I spent a little over 7 years on the island. I met many people from different parts of the world, made many friends along the way, I trained dolphins, waited tables, bartended, managed front desks, fell in love, got my heart broken, did over 200 SCUBA dives… I truly feel like I lived.
My life now is very different. I am married to an amazing woman. I am the father of a gorgeous 1 year old boy. And I’m happily working in PartnerHero, where I’ve been for a year. The lessons I learned during that period in my life have served me well and will continue to do so.
The main one: positive reinforcement works for people too.
So next time I give you a compliment or praise your work, now you know where I learned that.
