San Diego has so much to do we really had to make some decisions about how to limit our budget. Sea World was running a promo to buy a Funcard which allows you to pay for one day and come back the rest of the year free. Since we are staying across from Seaworld this was a good purchase. We have gone many times and have had so much fun there!
We laughed so hard at this mirror, we stayed here for a long time playing with our reflection.
The Shamu show you can never get tired of! We have gone back many times to this show and it is better every time. The kids are determined to get soaked whenever we go. The saltwater from the tank kinda stinks though.
Killer whale close-up!!!
These trainers made it look like it was nothing to ride on the back of a Killer Whale and glide through the water at several miles an hour while managing to hold on and be thrust through the air! Just another day of work.
We went below to see the whales swimming in the tank and Sunny was leaning against the window when one swam by for this photo.
We watched and waited to time another picture with Shamu. We think he swims from this tank to the one in San Antonio, TX – there can’t be more than one Shamu!
Dead Fish: “Please don’t feed me to the dolphins”. You can actually stick your hands in the tank and pet the dolphins. This was a cool exhibit that we spent a long time at and the kids loved it.
We learned a lot from this dolphin trainer, he taught about the differences between some dolphins and where they live, about contamination in the water which is big here in California, and he also taught about the personalities of the individual dolphins in the tank.
“No! I said please!”
We met this lady and her service dog, he was very excited to watch the dolphins.
The kids hanging over the sea lion exhibit, these guys were aggressive! You can also feed these ones and they knew it! They were fighting with each other, making a lot of noise, and standing on the wall for food.
But they are so cute!
It is really cool that you can touch so many of the creatures. Jenn is holding one of the starfish out of the tide pool. There were many of them and all you have to do is pull one out to look at them.
We put one in upside down and watched him turn over. It took a while but it was really neat to see how he does it.
Kes with a snail from the tidepool.
What the?
These were real and alive.
At the Manta Ray exhibit you can buy a tray of food and feed them. They feel very strange and leave slime on your hands. They are kinda oily and will take the food out of your hands. It took a while for the kids to feed them because they make this slurping noise and splash like crazy while trying to get the food in their mouth.
Kesley holding the dead squid we are feeding the Manta Rays.
They come out of the water quite a bit to take the food from you.
We learned that if you are hanging around on a slow day at feeding time, if all the feed is not purchased ($7/tray), they give it away.
We took the moving walkway through the shark exhibit and saw many different kinds of sharks. It was really beautiful.
Jaws isn’t real! Jaws isn’t real! Jaws isn’t real!
(The nightmares are back)
We saw polar bears trying to hunt some fish in the water, they take their time and follow the fish for a while before jumping in after it. This was very interesting to watch cute yet fatally vicious!
Sea World has turned into a great investment for our time in San Diego. We have been several times and plan to go back several more. What’s really nice is the last time we went we took the kids on a hot day to cool off in the water and Greg and Jenn got some work done. Sea World is a great place to spend your time.