Land of Aquatic Adventures

I didn’t realize until this past weekend that Kevin had never been to SeaWorld. (I think he had just as much fun as the kids!) We all had such a great time. And, to top it off, it was one of those picture-perfect San Diego days . . . bright, sunshiny, and 62 degrees. Mmm . . . beautiful.

With a bit of advance planning, we managed to do just about everything in the park. The dolphin and Shamu shows were indescribably incredible. It’s amazing what they can do with those animals. The trainers must have a lot of confidence to work with the killer whales especially. One of the trainers stood on the nose of Shamu as it launched the trainer eight stories into the air. Another trainer ran in place on top of the whale as it rolled around in the water. In addition to the surprise tricks, a lot of humor was interjected into the shows.

We also really enjoyed interacting with the many different sea animals. There were different “petting zoos” at the park, including a tank with a bunch of rays (obviously with their stingers disabled). The rays would come up to the surface and curl their “wings.” To my surprise, they felt very slimy and mushy. We also got to “pet” three or four different dolphins. By contrast, their skin was very slick, smooth, and rubbery. In order to touch and interact with the dolphins, we had to buy a tray of fish to feed them. Kevin bought two trays saying, “I paid enough money to get into this blasted park, I’m not going to leave without feeding the dolphins!” I don’t know which was more fun: watching the dolphins or watching Kevin.