San Diego Sea World

Another fun-filled day saw us at Sea World. It was all part of the plan but by this stage we wished that we had a few days rest inbetween each theme park. No time for that craziness....

 After a quick review of the Sea World map and show times it was straight to the dolphin and whale show. I guess we were so used to the size of the dolphins that we see in Pohnpei that we were blown away at how big these ones were.

 

 Now that would be a extremely cool job to have.

 

 Loving 'sports mode' on the digital SLR.

 

 These critters could definately get some 'hang time'.

 

 When you walk in they have the first 16 rows of seats labelled 'splash zone' with warnings that you may get wet if you sit there.

 

 Now you know why.

 

 Pilot whales. We have a resident pod of melon-headed whales here in Pohnpei, very similar to these ones.

 

 Another cool job I'd like to have. I'd even wear the pink suit if they let me do it....

 

What's cooler than two dolphins in the air? 

Four dolphins in the air.

 

 A beluga (white) whale.

 

 One minute you see them.

 

 The next you don't. I watched this polar bear hunt those salmon for half an hour. He's going to end up a skinny bear at the rate he was going.

 They also have a pet show at Seaworld. Good for a laugh.

 

 Need I say more....

 

 Shamu in full flight.

 

 Awesome creatures.

 

 I took Jaxon on a rollercoaster and when we finished Nic and Indi had already headed over to the orca show. We had no chance of finding them. When they announced that now was the time you would definately get wet in the wet zone a lot of people moved away, that's when Jaxon and I moved down to three rows from the front. We are under this wave of water somewhere. Big smiles all round.

 

 Probably the highlight of the day for us.

 

So cool.

 

Indi, Crush and Jaxon. 

 Plenty fish Mummy.

 

 Next event was the Seal Show. This otter was probably the star though.

 

 Very good balance to be able to jump over a bar with a ball on your nose. Sounds like a potential drinking game.

 

Piranha. Fingers away from the top of this tank. 

 The walkthrough tank was also a very cool experience.

 

 Patting a bat ray.

 

 Everyone had to have a go.

 

 It was the day before my birthday so we decided to have dinner with Shamu.

 

 If you've come all this way it's a small extra price to pay for the opportunity to be so close to a killer whale.

 

 They never stopped eating during our entire meal.

 

And great farewell leap to see us on our way.

San Diego Zoo

Labelled as the best zoo in the world the San Diego Zoo didn't dissapoint. It was a very full day but well worth the effort. There's a few animal photos in the blog, but hey it's a zoo and this blog is just as much for us as it is for you.

 As zoos often do, flamingos as soon as you walk in the front gate. 

 Our plan was to get there early and beat the crowd. Good plan. We hoped straight on the cable car and headed up to the polar bear enclosure. As luck would have it the keepers were just kicking them out of their beds and encouraging them down to the water with food. Jaxon and Indi were happier playing with the fake seals. No bloody idea some times.

 

 This was definately what Nic had come to the zoo to do, little did we know hope awesome this half an hour was going to be.

 

 Jaxon wasn't quite sure so he stood back for a little while.

 

 'No Fear Indi' had other plans.

 

 Carrots of all the things. The polar bears loved them.

 

 Probably not a once in a life-time thing, but it was very cool to be this close to the only bear that will hunt, kill and eat human beings.

 

Nic would have stayed there all day.

 

 'How about a hug beautiful lady?'

 

 'Or maybe a kiss with the cute little one'.

 

 'Sorry if my breath is a little fishy'

 

 'Is that chocolate on your fingers?'

 

 Just hanging out with yet another 'man-eater'.

 

After convincing Nic they may just be other animals at the zoo we found Rudolph. I know it sounds bad: but that would be an awesome set of antlers to have mounted in the bar.

 

Ah. Memories of our trip to Africa in 2005. Cool critters.

 

 I like this photo, that's why it's on the blog........

 

 Pandas are also very cool. One of the other pandas had a baby about four weeks old. We saw film of it but unfortunately the mumma bear had the littlen safely tucked away from sight.

 

 Photos, more bloody photos. Just give me five minutes out of this enclosure and I'll give you something to take a photo of.

 

 A very harmonious enclosure.

 

 These little crocs aren't man eaters but you still would be game to try and grab one with your bare hands.

 

 What is it with kids and statues??????????

 

 Some bird from PNG. There you go Granddad - one for you.

 

 I can't remember why but I Nic needed to go 'shopping' so I took the kids to the petting zoo.

 

 Indi got into it eventually.

 

 'The Peas' continue to play nice.

 

What was it I said about statues. Get out of the bloody garden!!!!!!