Sea World

Sea World, San Diego
This place is a few hours drive from home. We drove to this place and upon entering the parking lot, we found out that certain rides and shows were cancelled for the day due to maintenance work. Disappointed, we proceeded however.

First we saw the sea lion. At every feeding point (sea lions, bat ray, dolphin etc) there would be a counter where they sell food for these animals (small fish) which we can buy and feed the animals. We just watched others feed.



We went to see the Bat rays, eels and the stars of the sea. These are our palm sized star fishes in different colours. They look like stones. You can close you fingers ,lift them and place on top of your hand. After about a minute, they cling to your hand. Only then do you realise that they are living creatures. We took one in hand and took pictures. The water was damn freezing and I couldnt hold it until it changed shape. My husband held one for a while and it clung to his hand. But by that time, his palm started freezing. Then we left the star fish back in the pond, washed our hands and moved on. We went into the fresh water aquarium and watched the varied species of fishes.We saw orange coloured beautiful flamingos in the Flamingo Cove.
There was a ride called Shipwreck rapids. It was not so thrilling but an enjoyable one.


We had lunch in a cafe over there. I managed to get a Burger and chocolate drink. My husband got some kind of fish. Then we went to the Shamu show. I thought these to be large dolphins but later realised they were whales and dangerous creatures too. All of these black and white animals have the stage name "Shamu". The show was fantastic and we were amazed at how well these were trained. Unfortunately a few weeks later, one of these whales in a different Sea World location killed it's trainer. We were shocked to hear the news. You can search the net for "Shamu" and will get lot of information. Here is one such link.



We saw a short 4 D movie at the Mission Bay 4 D theatre. It was about Sesame Street titled "Lights, Camera, Imagination". The kids would love it. There was also a play area called as the Bay of Play based on Sesame street characters having rides for kids. We also went to the Shark Encounter, where varieties of shark are found. A lot of information boards are kept around the place having interesting details about sharks.

We then headed to the Penguin Encounter. They really looked like dolls. There was also ride to the Wild Artic. The Beluga Interaction where you can see white whales, polar bears and walruses living in the artificial snow world. I pity them, as why should they be fooled throughout their lives for our entertainment.


There were few other shows we missed because of the specific timings. And one nice ride was not functioning. As it started getting dark, we too started back towards the entrance. We saw a rainbow. I was too happy as I'm seeing one after so long. Overall the trip was informative, not too entertaining. It is mostly for the kids who would have a great time.

Please go through more photos below: http://picasaweb.google.com/tamilarasanramya/SeaWorld#