Marineland is marking its 65th birthday, but a developer thinks it retains all the potential of its youth.
By Associated Press
Published June 30, 2003
MARINELAND - Nellie, the oldest known Atlantic bottlenose dolphin in captivity, glided through the crisp water at Marineland's Dolphin Stadium on a recent Sunday afternoon.
Her grey body glistened in the overcast skies. Her eyes focused intensely on her trainer. The crowd, perhaps the biggest the oceanarium has seen in years, focused intensely on Nellie.
Nellie broke out of retirement yet again to celebrate Marineland's 65th birthday earlier this month. To call her a star would be an understatement.
She performed in the Historic Dolphin Show, a show that took guests through the first years of dolphin tricks to today. Nellie caught footballs, played baseball and shot hoops. The crowd erupted with cheers with each completed trick.
"Nellie went into retirement," said Joy Hampp, executive director of operations for Marineland. "But she seems so happy to be performing again."
St. Augustine resident Howard Kenney attended Marineland when the park first opened 65 years ago. He brought his family to visit the park on its birthday June 22.
"I probably saw the same dolphin today as I did then," Kenney said.
"We love it," said his wife, Marcena.
The Kenneys hope that some day Marineland will be the park that it once was. And perhaps it will.
Before the official birthday celebration, the future vision of Marineland was unveiled to a small group at the Moby Dick Lounge.
Jim Jacoby of Jacob Development Inc. in Atlanta has acquired 47 acres of land in Flagler County. Within those 47 acres is Marineland.
"I attended Marineland in 1950," he said. "And it hasn't changed much since then."
Jacoby's vision is to create an attraction that would teach the next generation about the importance of the environment.
"It would be like "edutainment' for the kids," he said.
Jacoby said he would like to create a safe habitat for the animals, but also to have the public interact more with the animals.
"It (the Marineland vision) started here 65 years ago. It needs to continue here," he said. "Part of the problem is that Marineland didn't change with the times."
Hampp said that the only way to ensure Marineland's survival is to look at it from a different perspective. "Today, people want to interact with the animals," she said.
Some of the plans include a new marina, which is presently under construction; a new dolphin lagoon system; a sea turtle lagoon; and an interactive lagoon.
"The lagoons would provide an environment enrichment place for the animals, which would allow us to take better care of them," she said.
On the west side of the property, a new town is in the works with 200 residential units and a town center planned.
Hampp said the lagoon portion of the project will cost more than $1-million. The residential part is expected to cost many millions more, according to Chad A. Martin of Martin, Mantle and Bignon L.L.C. Martin has joined with Jacoby to overhaul Marineland.
"We have a responsibility to our guests," Martin said. "We need to change, but we need to retain some history, heritage and place."
"Let's not be another Cypress Gardens," he said, referring to the recent closure of one of Florida's oldest theme parks that helped create the state's image as a tropical haven when it first opened more than 60 years ago.
