Sea World - 22nd & 24th November 2008

Sea World was really fun. So much so that we spent 2 days there. We saw some of the same shows twice but they were worth it and Kaiden really loved it. He was mesmerized by all the animals and the amazing things they could do. The first show we saw was 'Clyde & Seymour's Risky Rescue' at the Sea Lion & Otter Stadium. It was a great show. It was more like a littel play really. The show was about saving the General and saving their sub. Clyde was the rat bag sailor & Seymour was the obedient one. It was great a great show and Kaiden was in stitches. At the very end they bring out the General who is one of the resident walrus'. Looks like they saved the day after all. I
don't really think you can see in the 2nd photo very well but this little Otter helped out with lunch by bringing out a can of Pepsi. It was very cute and just looked so small compared to the big sea lions. He would appear every so often in the corner of the set and make something exploded.

The Dolphin Discovery Show at Dolphin Stadium was fantastic as you could imagine. Dolphins are such beautiful animal. They actually share their pool with 2 whales. They came out and made some waves. All amazing. I thought it was kind of funny how all these people were mezmorised by a bunch of animal tricks. Me included. They were amazing. Not sure that you can really tell in the photo but Dolly is jumping over the rope stretched across the pool. Couldn't tell you how high that is but it was HIGH. We went to the Dolphin show twice as well. Again, well worth it.

We also took the opportunity to see dine with Shamu. Shamu is actually the 'family name' of the whales at Sea World, named after the original 2 whales they had way back when. Before one of the shows you could book in to have a buffet lunch/dinner right next to one of their pools. These creatures were just incredible. There were a few trainers with the 4 whales in the pool and they jumped and played while we listened, watched and asked questions. Of course Kaiden had few. Now question time goes to waste with Kaiden around. It's like he feels it's his duty to provide a question in times of silence.

This platform was right near our table. Aren't they amazing. As I snapped this photo, one of the other whales jumped out of the water in the background. Thank you very much. I want to say great photography but this one really was just lucky. Aren't they beautiful.

Then it was off to the show. Kaiden sat in the 'Soak Zone' and this is literally what it says. They warn you before the show that if you are sitting in the first 20 rows, you WILL get wet so if you would rather stay dry . . . move NOW! We hung around (but under our rain coats) It was fun and Kaiden loved it. He didn't get too wet but he loved it anyway. At a certain time of the show the trainers send the whales out for the sole purpose of drenching the crowd. They come right up to the edge of their pool and either jump out of the water and do a huge belly flop or they float just under the surface with just their tales out drown you with a big flick of that huge tale. Even thought they warn you, it still sends unprotected people running to the top seats after they get absolutley drenched. It is funny to watch. As I said, we didn't do too bad. Those rain coats did wonders. Kaiden was amazed at everything the whales did. Actually so were we. It really is a fabulous show. We saw it 3 times in the end. They do a different show at night time called Shamu Rocks & the show is all set to rock music which they have blaring the whole time. It was great. The one during the day is about believing and following your dreams. Both were great fun hence going 3 times.

How often do you get the chance to get this close to a killer whale. It really was a brilliant couple of days. Well worth the trip. Kaiden and I also went on the roller coaster called 'Journey to Atlantis' It was great fun. I was surprised that Kaiden wanted to go on it and who was I to let him down. It was one of those roller coasters that drops down into a pool of water. He was a little scared but he was glad he went on it. Didn't want to do it again mind you but still glad he'd had a go. That's my boy.