Sleeping in this morning was wonderful. We all needed a good nights sleep in order to catch up and feel a little bit rested. No time for naps today, as it only took 5 minutes to get to and from Sea World and the day was packed full with exciting activities.
At Sea World we were met by our educator Angela, who became our personal guide to the park for the day. After a quick introduction, we walked to the behind the scenes shark encounter. Angela, who is a shark expert, told us so many interesting and important things about sharks. Did you know that there are over 400 different species of sharks and that more people die from skiing than from shark attacks? Neither did many of us. All students had a chance to touch a White Spotted Bamboo Shark before we moved on to the shark tunnel. From there, we walked across the park to the classroom building for our skull identification lesson. We learned that Dolphins only look like they smile because they are getting rid of the salt water they got in their mouth when catching fish.
The Shamu Killer Whale show was spectacular. A large group of our students decided to go sit in the splash zone and needless to say they got very, very, very,
wet. This really did not matter as it began raining a little and continued throughout the afternoon and evening. By now everyone decided it was time for lunch.
Seals and Sea Lions were next on our agenda. John, the dominant male Sea Lion, was trying to establish his territory and was as usual very vocal. Sea Lions are very vocal and social animals with outer ears, whereas Seals do not have outer ears and tend to not communicate much with each other vocally.
Seamore and Clyde, the two Sea Lions in the show we watched, demonstrated how trainable they are. They actually seamed like they enjoyed the attention. The giant Walrus that came out on stage at the end also belongs to the pinniped family along with the Seals and Sea Lions. They all have feathered tail flippers.
Our final stop and behind the scenes visits took place in the rescue area. Angie explained all about the rescue center, the surgical room, the “ambulance” and the difference between a beached animal (dead) and a stranded animal (alive). We were introduced to some older rescued sea turtles, a whale with scoliosis, three rescued manatees and a few dolphins on vacation. Angie explained that most of the rescue animals would be returned to their natural habitat once they recuperate, but some like the blind sea turtles will never be returned.
As 4 pm approached, free time also approached. Cracken, Manta and the water ride had been heavily anticipated, but due to the weather kept having technical difficulties. Despite this some of our students rode these rides more than once, more than twice, more than three times. Luke claims he rode the water ride 7 times. I guess it does not matter how wet you got since it was raining already.
We returned to the hotel around 7:20pm. After a recap of the day and some journal work, students cold play in the pool until it was time to go pack and get ready for our last day. OUR LAST DAY? Where has the time gone? It’s hard to believe our last day is tomorrow.
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