Trip to Sea World

Today I went with a group of teacher friends to Sea World.
Dayna, Jennifer, Shaundra, Audra, me, and Jessica

Sea World gives FL teachers "study passes" which get us in for FREE! Not a bad deal, right? We had been planning to go for awhile, but with everyone's summer schedules, it didn't happen until today. We had beautiful weather, although HOT, and the storms/rain held off and about the time we left at 6:30, the thunder had started and the clouds were about to open up. I just need to reiterate the fact that it was HOT today!!!

Here are some flamingos we saw today! They don't smell very good we figured out.



Dayna, pretending to be a tourist.

Touching the stingrays! We recently swam with huge stingrays in the Grand Cayman Islands! {I still need to blog about the cruise!}



The first show we went to was the dolphin show which is amazing, but I didn't take any pictures during it. I could watch those dolphins do tricks and jumps in the water all day; it's just so entertaining to me. The Shamu Show was soon after the dolphin show so we went to that. Seeing whales in the water is just as amazing and fun to watch! Growing up in FL, I've been to Sea World more than once, but seeing Shamu never ever gets old! Last time I was at Sea World was 3 years ago, before the tragic accident where one of the killer whales killed one of the female trainers last year. They have made some adjustments to their show and the trainers no longer swim in the tank with the whales during the show (I'm not sure the policy during regular training of the whales, though.)
It's hard to imagine that there are whales in the wild that are even bigger than the ones we saw today! Many different kinds of whales, too!







Takin' a break. The sun required it. It was an oven outside today.


Dippin' dots! Have you ever had them? I had chocolate-yum!


Exploring the shark exhibit. Audra-sorry to say, but I think you and I lose for the title "Most Likely Face If You Encountered a Shark." Dayna most definitely wins!


We stopped and watched the sea lions and otters for awhile. Here's a momma and her baby.


There was one male that kept barking so loudly the whole time we watched. Apparently it's their way of declaring their territory. Hate to tell him, but doesn't he know that they share that big 'ole pool they're all swimming in?? We found out from one of the workers that particular seal is the father of most of the babies. So is that bark also his mating call? ;)

Interesting fact I learned today in regards to sea lions and otters: the females have something called delayed implantation. What that means is, when a female conceives and the due-date after their 11 month pregnancy does not fit in the summertime-or close to it-delayed implantation will go into effect and the fertilized egg won't implant until the due-date is in the more appropriate season. I think it's so incredible that their bodies are able to have that kind of automatic programming, so to speak.

My most favorite exhibit of the day was the penguin exhibit, although I didn't get pictures inside due to one of the park's rules. We stayed about 30 minutes and just watched the younger penguins play and swim. When they get out of the water and onto one of their rocks, they just shoot straight up onto the rock. There is no climbing involved. I know it's how their bodies are made, to stand erect all the time, but it's just so interesting! I loved watching how incredibly fast the penguins can swim!

Our day at Sea World was great and a fun way to spend one of our last summer days!