Sea World

On Tuesday our destination was Sea World. There continues to be a lot of controversy around whether Sea World is a 'good' organisation or a 'bad' organisation since they have whales in captivity. My hope is that if they had to choose today they would choose not to add more Orcas to their collection directly from the wild. Time will tell. Sea World San Diego has a mix of exhibits and rides and the first ride on the list was Journey to Atlantis. It looked a lot like Splash Mountain but a bit more rickety so Callie and I passed. We were glad we did because Carter and Kerry got absolutely soaked.

While Carter and Kerry were standing in line for the ride Callie and I headed over to get seats for our first show. This was one of my favourites the last time I was here and this time didn't disappoint. It starts with a bit of a pre show while everyone is getting seated with a 'crew member' getting the stage ready and mixing it up with dances to various songs. He even did the bucket scene from Flash Dance which I can't help but assume will become less relevant over time. (I don't even remember having watched that movie.)

The sea lions were very good at their acts. They appear quite trainable and looked very cute in their costumes for their dance routines.

After the Sea Lions we had lunch. This is where I make a recommendation regarding  Sea World. If you only have time to go to one thing, definitely go to the zoo. Sea World is good if you like sea creatures but the customer experience is not the same. I sent for lunch at the Ship Wreck Reef cafe and it was quite terrible. Everyone lines up in the same line to get their food and just grabs the food from under the heat lamps, however a few kids really wanted chicken fingers and they were out so the whole line ground to a halt. I think it took 20 minutes to grab my meal which was cold since the heat lamps weren't actually heat lamps. There weren't any staff nearby to even notice that things weren't moving. (I will stop complaining now.)

Our next show was the orcas. This is the show that has gotten a lot of attention since the documentary 'Black Fish' and I will admit, even though the pool they are in looks big, these guys move pretty quick and obviously don't have enough room. The show was very different from when I was here last since none of the trainers are allowed in the pool. The orcas seem to be enjoying themselves but that's because they get fed the entire show. The best part was when they used their tails to splash the crowed. A bit of gentle revenge for them.

With all the waiting for the shows, our day was coming to an end pretty fast and we still hadn't been to all the exhibits. Everyone picked one thing they really wanted to see and for Carter that was the Shark Encounter. He'd been talking about Great Whites and Megladon's all day and was very excited to see the sharks. The exhibit is great because you start above water and see them from the top and then take a ramp that brings you underneath through a glass tunnel. At the end was a megaldon mouth with teeth. I don't think Carter realized just how big they were.

Kerry's final ride was going to be the Manta roller coaster which was a bit too fast for the rest of us so we went to the Bat Ray feeding pool nearby while we waited. You could buy some fish to feed them which is a pretty good scam, since you are paying for their food that Sea World has to provide anyways. Feeding them was lot's of fun. You stick the fish between your fingers and get your arm as far into the pool as you can. The ray then swims over top and sucks the fish right out of your hand. I was amazed that Callie tried first without even knowing what was going to happen. She had lot's of fun.

We were now set up for the highlight of the day. We had watched the dolphin feeding a few hours earlier from the side of the pool but Callie had really wanted to do the 'Dolphin Encounter' which gives you an up close feeding opportunity. They take about 20 people every few hours and you get to go right up to the side of the pool with a trainer and your own dolphin. I asked Callie what her dolphins name was and she was certain it was 'Slimy'. We checked Wikipedia afterwards and we all agree the name was probably 'Steime'.

We got the last tickets available for the day and originally it was going to be Callie and Kerry but we managed to convince Carter to go and I think he was glad we did. He got a chance to let the dolphin touch his hand with his nose. Other tricks included, dancing, spinning and playing dead. They also got to touch the dolphins and learn about them directly from the trainer. A great experience and even though these dolphins are in captivity, I think they like being there. They really seem to enjoy contact with people.

The 'Dolphin Encounter' was our last event and we left Sea World to go downtown for dinner. We ended up at an area called Sea Side Village which had a lot of stores that were probably for the local cruise ship industry. Lot's of restaurants, trinkets and sweet stores. (So of course I liked it a lot.) We had dinner at a restaurant on the water and saw the sun set at the US Navy yard across the bay. The only sad part was when we saw a Bichon which was very fitting since today would have been Wilson's 13th birthday. Very therapeutic to be able to pet a bichon on this special day.