Sea World

The thing we were most about doing with the kids in Florida, Michael especially, was taking them to Sea World. We were not disappointed. We loved seeing the orcas. (Somehow Michael discovered that they are really called orcas and killer whale is just a nickname, so now we all have to call them orcas.)

One of the orcas had just had a baby in October, so they would let the mom and baby out into the big tank to swim around every once in a while. That was neat to see.

Of course there was the main reason that we went to Sea World, and that was to take Michael through the shark tunnel. He loved it. He was running around identifying all the different sharks that he knew. The one in the picture is a tiger shark.

There was also a seal show that was pretty funny. At the end they had a walrus come out. It was huge and just looked like a moving lump of light brown fat.

The dolphin show was probably our favorite show. It had a combination of dolphins and their trainers. Some of the trainers were on swings and trapeze like things above the water. They also had divers jumping off of platforms above the water. It was pretty crazy.

The dolphin show also included a false killer whale. It was just bigger than the other dolphins and a darker color. (Anyway, killer whales - I mean orcas - aren't really whales; they're dolphins.)
In Sea World, we also got to pet some rays. They feel pretty interesting, and there's not really any way to describe it. Michael was really hesitant to touch them at first. I could tell every time he touched one because he would suddenly jerk his hand back. After a while he got more comfortable and would actually pet them.