Wilma has well and truly blown away this morning leaving clear skies
and fresh air, so fresh that a fleece was needed for most of the
day. Our destination today was SeaWorld. One of Andy’s friends works
for Anheuser-Busch, the company that owns this theme park, so we had
free tickets to get in. We splashed out and paid an extra $4 for the
car park which meant we were near the entrance, and near the exit
for getting out. It was well worth it.
I
have never been to a theme park before and must admit I was a bit
wary of what we would find. There had been a bit of a debate about
where we would go. Andy and Stef both wanted somewhere where there
were scary rides, neither Caz nor I were interested in that.
SeaWorld has a bit of both and was a good compromise and I really
enjoyed the day after the first hour.
We
decided to get the thrill ride over and done with before the queue
got too large. A good call as it turned out because it took Stef,
Andy and Ben an hour to queue up for the Kraken roller coaster, and
that was at about ten in the morning. Had Caz, Joe and I realised
how long they were going to be we would have gone to see something
else while we waited. I have never understood how people get
pleasure on these rides. Certainly watching people going by there
was a definite mix of fun and fear showing on their faces. Finally
we saw Andy, Stef and Ben go by and then realised why it had taken
so long. They had waited so that they could be on the front row.
Stef and Ben loved it, as did Andy but he was the only one to admit
that he was shit scared at the same time.
With
queues that long to contend with, and the park visibly getting
busier (all British people from what we could tell) we decided to
try and book in advance to get into the killer whale show in the
afternoon. Although you can get express tickets to jump the queue
for Kraken you cannot do this for the shows so its pot luck whether
we will get in.
We
then spent the day working our way around the various bits of the
park, seeing most of it along the way. Our first stop was at the
Wild Arctic show. We took the “air” option to get to the arctic
rather than walking. This was a short simulator ride on a helicopter
bound for an arctic outpost. As we flew a “storm” blew in creating
the excuse for some hairy dips and dives before we arrived at the
arctic.
Here there were Beluga whales. At Tadoussac in Quebec they have
Beluga’s but we had not seen any so it was good to finally see what
they looked like. They are very unusual. White, they have no fins
and they reminded me of monster worms. The polar bears looked bored
and I suspect needed a bit more space than they had as they were
simply sleeping in their tank. The show was stolen though by the
walrus. It was huge, very blubbery and very horny. It was certainly
a “big boy” if you get what I mean.
Keeping with the arctic theme we went to see the penguins. The
entrance takes you along a conveyor belt in front of the penguin
enclosure, a very clever way of keeping people moving. The penguins
here were really active with lots of them swimming about and
waddling about on land. There were interactive panels, all at kiddie
height, so that you could learn more about the different species.
The way out took you past another big tank with loads of puffins.
Again we had missed these on the east coast of Canada. I love
watching penguins but the puffins were even more fun. They seem to
be a link between penguins and bird and incredibly entertaining.
They actually fly under water and are so hyper they make the
penguins look lazy!
From
here we went to see the “Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island” show.
A mime artist attempted to warm up the audience for the ten minutes
before the show started. As it was full of Brits they had a hard
time but did manage to get the crowd with them. Clyde and Seamore
did not manage to keep the momentum going but instead slipped in a
few “come on, we know you are British but loosen up” type of jokes.
The
show was sea lions and otters performing. Rather than just having
them showing off their tricks they had set the whole thing into a
pirate story about buried treasure. The sea lions were pretty
amazing, mimicking their trainers and doing their stuff, including
soaking the front few rows of the audience. They have even managed
to train an otter to perform and it was the otter who kept stealing
the treasure map.
It
was good but not as much fun as the dolphins. Again, the show was
set to a story, something about a princess finding her prince I
think. It involved a lot of people doing circus style acrobatics and
then diving into the pool. The dolphins would swim down to meet them
and bring the acrobats up balanced on the edge of their nose. Other
people were pushed along in the water by the dolphins or rode on
their backs, either holding onto their fins or standing up as if the
dolphin was a surf board. To me it was amazing that they could train
these animals to perform in this way. It must take a huge amount of
time and dedication but both the people and the dolphins involved in
the show seemed to be having a great time.
In
the shark encounter they had a small pool outside where you could
feed baby sharks. They must have been well fed that day because they
seemed uninterested in the fish that people were throwing in to
them. Below ground, a tunnel took you underneath a pool with
different types of sharks and fish. Some people had donned wet suits
for their shark encounter and were actually in the pool (in a metal
cage).
After the sharks we went to see the manatees. These look prehistoric
and are now a bit of an endangered species. Their natural habitat is
under threat and they are being killed or injured by fishing and
boating. The manatees they have at SeaWorld are all animals that
have been rescued after injury. One had a big chunk missing out of
its tail fin, another had nasty scars across its body from where it
had been gouged by a propeller.
We
had a quick look at the alligators and sea lions and at some time
during the day found ourselves in the Anheuser-Busch hospitality
zone. It’s a clever bit of marketing by the company because you can
go and get free beer. Next to the hospitality zone they have a small
stables where they keep Clydesdale shire horses that are one of the
trademark images of the company. Back in the 1930’s someone
presented a team of eight horses to the then head of the company and
that is how it all started. They are beautiful, large horses. As we
were there they were hooking up a team to a traditional old barrel
cart. Their harnesses and tackle were all highly polished and looked
pretty heavy. The end result was stunning.
Earlier in the afternoon we had gone to the Shamu Stadium to see the
killer whale show. Even though we got there are the time we were
told to the stadium was full and we could not get in. We were a bit
peeved to say the least but knew that there was another show at the
end of the day. This time we wanted to make sure we got in and we
got there very early. Andy and Stef went to make sure that the
Budweiser was still OK while Caz and I queued with the boys. There
were loads of seats to spare at this show.
In
the sea lion and dolphin shows the first few rows were marked as the
splash zone. Here the first fourteen rows had warnings you would get
wet and we soon found out why. They had about six killer whales most
of which were only little. One part of their “act” though was to
swim round the edge of the tank splashing water over the side with
their tails. People got well and truly soaked. Their show was
similar to the dolphins with people being hoisted high out of the
water on their noses and with them jumping out of the water and
shimmying along the sides. I suppose the added edge was whether they
fancied human for tea rather than fish!
I
had thought that the dolphins were fast and powerful with the speed
that they sawm round their tanks. They were not a patch on the
whales. You got a real sense of how powerful these animals were and
I am sure you cannot force them to do something they do not want to
do. A team of about forty people was involved in training the
whales. It must be a fantastic job to do, incredibly rewarding but
needing a lot of patience at the same time.
On
the way back home we stopped off for dinner. We bypassed Hooters, a
place seen in a film that Joe and Ben had watched and famed for its
well endowed waitresses. It looked tacky from the outside and the
sign on the door asking men to keep their shirts on but offering
free food to women who took their shirts off did nothing to make us
want to stay. Instead we headed for a Japanese restaurant and had
teppanyaki.
This
was a new eating experience for the Sarneys but one we have had
before at Benihana’s in London. You have your own chef who cooks
your food at your table but does so with a bit of entertainment
thrown in. They twirl their knives, do silly things with prawns,
make butterfly (throwing bits of butter through the air) and
generally have a bit of a laugh. The food was great and unlike the
Red Lobster, I think they will be getting another visit.
