San Diego Trip - Day 3

Sea World

Sea World is one of my favorite places. We started off the day with the dolphin show. They were really impressive! Of course they blend in so well with the background that you can barely see him in the picture.

Next stop was the Atlantis roller coaster. Bradley rode it three times – once with Rick and twice with me. Bradley was soaked to the bone, but Rick and I took turns with the poncho so were spared (mostly). Then a few exhibits and the sea lion show. We always like to see the Manatees because Rick is kindred spirits with them.

Next stop – Cirque de la Mer. Rick took a few shots of me and Ella while we were waiting. She’s too cute!

Then the acrobats came out. I can’t believe how strong these people are! The ones up in the air always remind us of Delaney because she likes them so much.

Then all of a sudden, I see an act at the center of the arena. It’s a tall man and a short woman, and they are performing amazing acrobatics. I look closely, and I see that it is Realis from the tv show America’s Got Talent. Rick doesn’t believe it for a second, but me and Bradley are sure because we watch the show all the time (we have a lot of free time). After the show Bradley takes a picture with them. Even then Rick still didn’t believe it was them, so he asked! The first picture is from the America’s Got Talent website so it’s fuzzy. Bradley was too excited that he was getting his picture made with Realis (Shenea and Arthur are their names)!!

Believe - the new Shamu show. Bradley was intent on sitting in the soak zone, so I only took this one picture before I wrapped the camera up in the poncho. There are actually four screens (showing the words believe) and they split apart and rotate. The story is about a little boy who dreamed of being a trainer, and that little boy all grown up is one of the trainers today. And at one point, the trainers ride the whales over the landing underneath the signs back into the other pools under a sheet of rain. Enough of the believe story – here is the Jackson story. We get to Shamu stadium to ensure our seats in the soak zone, so we have to sit there for quite a while. My plan was to wear the poncho, but Rick challenges me not to. Not being one to back down, I take the challenge. Now the only thing being saved by the poncho is the camera. When the show starts, Shamu and his friend come out of the water right in front of us, and Shamu takes that opportunity to get rid of his bodily waste. It’s like a huge cloud of whale poop that literally sits suspended in the water. Rick and I look at each other and hope that it goes away before we get splashed. A few minutes later one of the female trainers has Shamu up on the landing to the left of us, and she gives him a big kiss. I say to Ella, “She gave Shamu a kiss!” Then Ella proceeds to spend the rest of the show time with lips pursed wanting to give the big “fish” a kiss! Finally the trainers say that Shamu is ready for splash time. Thank goodness the poop cloud had dissipated by then! Shamu spends about 3 minutes only splashing very few people, and never gets us. We’re still hanging on to hope that he will splash more at the end of the show, but no such luck. I guess because it was so hot the show was shortened, because I’ve always remembered Shamu splashing a ton. Bradley was so upset he cried for a while, but then we went to feed the dolphins – talk about fun! Rick shot some video of us doing feeding them, but I lost the cord that connects the video camera to the computer so I can’t upload them.