Sea World!

We decided to have one last fling before Ben gives himself away to his life's work. After careful consideration between all of the fun things to do here, Sea World won out. We left Monday morning and spent the whole day in the park. Since we had two days there, we decided to hit the rides and shows the first day and the water park and animal exhibits the second day.

Monday:
First stop was Believe, the world-famous Shamu show! Shamu and his friends entertained us with jumps, flips, dives, and LOTS of splashing. It was amazing to see how the trainers interacted with these whales and watching the show caused Shaunelle to realize her new found life's dream of becoming a whale trainer.

Second stop was the ride Journey to Atlantis. Journey to Atlantis is a roller coaster/water ride that concludes with a 100 foot drop straight down into a pool of water. Now you would think most parents would try to build up to taking their 4-year-old son on a huge ride like this, but not these parents! Jaimason's thoughts on this ride (right after the drop with a pale face) were: "That was too scary, I hated it...Let's do it again!!" I wish we could post the picture that was taken on the ride because the look on his face was priceless.

You can stand on the bridge and get soaked when the ride comes down

Next, it was on to Viva. This show was a cross between Cirque du Soleil and Dolphins Gone Wild with acrobats, clowns, dolphins, and beluga whales. The show even had a baby beluga who followed his mom around the tank...he didn't really do much but was still fun to watch.

If you look closely, you can see the baby peeking out behind its mom

The clown in the air was just launched off of the swing on the left

The rest of the day was a combination of rides, lunch, more rides and a couple of shows (Pirates Plunder and Shamu Rocks Texas) to close out the day.


Tuesday:
We started this day off at the water park. Tuesday was a lot hotter and the UV index was rated as extreme...not a good mix! Despite slathering ourselves with sunscreen, we left with nice sunburn lines that day. The water park was a lot of fun and we spent a couple of hours there riding slides and playing in the pools before heading out to see the animals.


Sea World is full of fun little animal exhibits showcasing everything from the Budweiser Clydesdales to dolphins to piranhas. Our favorite part of this chunk of the day was when we got to feed some dolphins. This was an amazing experience where the dolphins swim right up to you and allow you to touch them in exchange for a fish. All three of us loved this and again, Shaunelle decided she wants to give up teaching to train sea animals.

Ben reaching out to stroke the "melon portion" as instructed

We also saw a trainer dive with and feed sting rays. We saw sharks, jellyfish, eels, penguins, puffins, flamingos, and even a kookaburra (and no he wasn't in an old gum tree eating all the gumdrops he could see).


It was an amazing trip and we are so glad we had the chance to go there. You could have the chance to go there too if you come and visit!

Buh-Bye Y'All!