One of the highlights of our San Antonio trip was a visit to Sea World. We looked forward to this for months and the whole family pitched in to save money for it by skipping treats and other extras so we could put the saved cash in our "Sea World Jar."
All eleven of us went to Sea World on Saturday, April 9 and went straight to "The Cannery Row Caper." It was a silly show with detective sea lions, a very amusing little otter (?), and a cameo by a giant walrus at the end.
The show schedule had us moving from one venue to the next. After "Cannery Row" we saw "Azul" which featured dolphins, exotic birds, and some pretty amazing diving acrobatics, by humans and dolphins alike. From there we raced over to the Shamu stadium for the big killer whale show. This ended up being slighly disappointing because it was so crowded that we couldn't find seats together. In fact, I think Maggie, Holly, and I might have been the only one who got seats. The girls were disappointed to not be in the splash zone, although Maggie was pretty satisfied with the misting we got. I was definitely satisfied that a misting was the extent of our "interaction" with Shamu.
After racing to three shows in a row, Kiera and Anya were pretty worn out and ready to go home. Jed and Joette drove home and got the girls settled with lunch and naps before Jed returned to Sea World for the rest of the afternoon.
While we were still waiting for Jed to come back, I took Adah and Christian on the Steel Eel--their first roller coaster ride. Adah's not so sure she liked it. She says it made her tummy feel really weird. Christian went for a second ride with Damon and Jed, but Adah demurred. Damon snapped this excellent photo of the coaster barrelling down a hill; unfortunately the kids and I were at the back of this train and hadn't made it into view yet.
Damon and Jed took all of the kids (minus Holly) on the Texas Splashdown, your classic amusement park log flume ride. Sorry, no photos of that one.
Towards the end of the hot day we went to this water playground for some cooling down. The kids all got SOAKED in the fountains and sprays.
Damon cooled down a bit as well. Jed and I mostly watched.
Our final stop of the day was at the dolphin pool. We had just missed a feeding, but we could still see the dolphins zipping back and forth through the pool and poking through the surface of the water.
We--along with other spectators--tried desperately to stretch our hands out and beckon the dolphins close enough to touch. In the photo below you can see the back of Christian, Adah, Maggie (just her head), and Jed. Damon is wearing the dark hat behind the guy with the white hat.
There were some trainers that I noticed giving some hand signals to the dolphins. After a little spin-and-point of the fingers, a dolphin came bounding across the pool and then did this sliding move to land on a ledge just under outstretched hands. Well, when I saw the trainer do it a second time, I made a beeline for the spot the dolphin was heading, dragging Maggie behind me. I lifted Maggie up against the wall where she and I were able to touch the smooth skin of the dolphin, just in front of its dorsal fin. Below, I'm wearing the gray hat and a turquoise shirt; Maggie's profile is obscuring my face. (We're just to the right of the guy in the red baseball cap with the drink in his hand.)
After our turn, I quickly set Maggie down and then lifted up Adah; she reached out her hand just as the dolphin slid off the ledge and back into the pool! It was a major disappointment on the heels of Maggie's elation. (It's still a sensitive subject in the McMillan household.)
Just a few minutes after touching the dolphin the employees announced that Sea World was closing and we needed to head to the gates. It was a long full day of exciting sights and new adventures for us all.
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