ATLANTIS RESORT, Paradise Island, Bahamas _ Over the years, I have kissed a lot of things in my quest for a good story _ Ireland's Blarney Stone; my luck goodbye in Las Vegas and shipboard casinos; terra firma after returning wobbly-kneed from the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb. But nothing I've ever kissed in the line of duty has given me as much pleasure as smacking lips with Katrina, a 6-year-old dolphin at Atlantis Resort's Dolphin Cay.
Katrina's name is an homage to her mother, one of 16 dolphins rescued by the resort from the Gulfport, Mississippi Oceanarium after Hurricane Katrina demolished the building, sending its residents into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Today, Katrina and her mother Sheree are both part of the Dolphin Experience here at Atlantis. Visitors, after being briefed on what is and isn't polite behavior around the aquatic mammals, can give them high-fives, rub their bellies and yes, even kiss them.
