One of the things we wanted to do when we came to San Diego was go to Sea World. I have been here once before, but it was the middle of March and I don’t really remember it all that well. It was a toss up between the zoo and Sea World and Sea World won.We really wanted to see the Orca whales.
We somehow managed to get to the park before it even opened! We didn’t even consider the fact that it might not yet be open since we usually don’t manage to get places until hours after our intended times! The GPS barked that we might arrive early and I assumed that with my driving we would be lucky to make it there before it closed. But we managed to get there without any hiccups and had a few minutes to browse around before heading in to see the main events.
On our way to the Orcas we stopped to see the dolphins and happened to arrive right as they were training them. Since it wasn’t that busy we even got a front row place! It was pretty neat seeing them that close!
Dolphin Point:
Orca Encounter
Then we made our way to see the whales.
I got a little too excited and convinced mom to sit three rows from the front in the wet zone (spoiler alert: They aren’t kidding! It really is a wet zone!) I briefly panicked about the camera getting wet -considered buying a poncho (really? Sit in the wet zone and buy a poncho?) but then decided we would be ok.
It was awesome being that close to them!
I was careful to put my camera in the bag when I assumed a wave would be coming -and was successful on the first round, but then this happened:
Moments after they gave a wave hello, they came closer -for what I assumed was a photo opp. Instead it was for a wave of water! Followed by another wave! And another!
Thankfully everything stayed dry inside the bag…it really was an epic time and I would do it again. However I would probably leave my camera and phone in the locker before heading up or get a wet bag to ensure they would be safe. The water wasn’t that cold and it was sunny -so we dried rather quickly…or we would have, but I drug mom on a water ride and we got soaked again.
Before:
After:
We had lunch -and successfully avoided getting attacked by the seagulls -although one lady wasn’t so lucky and she lost her entire pizza!
Then we checked out all the animals:
Turtle Reef:
Penguin Encounter:
Wild Arctic:
There were other animals in the Arctic -beluga, seals and the spot for a polar bear who was out -but I couldn’t get any decent shots of them. Plus I couldn’t get over how MASSIVE this walrus was! His feet (or back fins) were HUGE.
None of these pictures are award worthy -but I wasn’t concerned about composition but rather spending time having fun with mom and capturing some of those moments when the opportunity arose. I’ve never been very good at multi tasking 😛
I think the spaghetti factory summed it up best:
See you on the flip side!
Tangled Thoughts 