We spent a day filming at the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic Connecticut.
Our mission? To follow the daily activities of a Beluga whale trainer and learn what is involved in the maintenance of such a large exhibit.
They do not generally dive with the Belugas at the Mystic Aquarium, so this was a fairly unusual segment for us--no scuba diving! I did get to go into the water with the animals in hip waders, where I learned a bunch of hand signals and got a kiss from a Beluga! This exciting segment has me learning the ways of the Beluga trainer for a day, and will make a Beluga lover out of anyone. It will be a segment in season 4 of Jonathan Bird's Blue World, due out in the fall of 2013.
-Jonathan