As we are staying at SeaWorld's Resort, we all got to have a sleep in and woke up at about eight-thirty. Today was supposed to be cooler with a 40 percent chance of rain, well, that did not happen, it was hot as hell with the humidity that you expect from Northern Australia. Let it just be known that at 9am I was cooked, and the day had not even begun, and we had not even had breakfast. The close quarter living has started to take its toll on us, nobody has their own space, and we are living on top of each other.
However, both Lilian and Isabelle are still having the time of their life, and both were ready and raring to get going to SeaWorld. Both girls were genuinely interested in attending all the animal exhibits, before rides.
Dolphins
Turtles
We saw a lone title doing its thing in one of the dolphin enclosures, it was just doing its own thing, uninterested in us and what we were doing.
Little (Blue) Penguins
We started our trip with the Little Penguins, as Lilian seems currently very penguin mad. It was quite an interesting presentation, where they fed the penguins and explained how they ate 25% of their own body weight every day, and that they wave their flippers after eating to speed up the digestion, as they need it to be done ASAP as they need to poop at least once every 17 minutes.
Seals
Affinity Dolphin Presentation
This production is the main attraction at Sea World for the common person, and the training and skills that both the humans and dolphins have is simply remarkable.
Ray Reef
We walked through Ray Reef and the girls spent some time patting the rays, and I spent some time being overwhelmed by my tight shirt and how it was just collecting all the sweat. It was at this time that I realised I had hit my limit and a looser shirt was in order. Once we had checked in at the Animal Encounter venue so that we were all squared away with that.
I was underwhelmed with this exhibit, as it was a heap of rays that just sat on the bottom of the tank. I am not sure that this was the best life choice for them, or if they cycle them through the shark reef exhibit
Once this was done, it was straight off to the Billabong shop to purchase a highly overpriced t-shirt,
Jelly Fish
This was a very exciting exhibit and was beautiful to look at, but the heat was getting to me, I hope to be able to get back there and take some photographs as they were beautiful.
After looking at this exhibit it was time for a little time out for dad and once I was feeling more human, we left to look at further exhibits.
Polar Bears
We went to see the Polar Bears, but they were nowhere to be found. I suspect that with the heat and humidity and being in the middle of the day, they decided to chill somewhere that was cooler.
Antarctic Penguin Encounter
This was the highlight of today's adventures, and both of the girls were entombed with them. We were really lucky that there were just the three of us in the group, and we had the penguins all to ourselves.
The exhibit has the second and third-largest breeds of penguins, the Gentoo and Kings. The Gentoo penguins are usually more extroverted and the Kings are normally more introverted. Neither breed fears humans, as they live in the Antarctic, we have not been a predator of theirs.
The first thing that we needed to do before we entered the enclosure was to don some cold weather clothing, as the enclosure was sitting at about 2°C. Once this was done, we headed into the enclosure. Upon entering the enclosure, we were sat on a bench keeping our hands to our sides, or crossed in front of us, and just allowed the penguins to become accustomed to us, whilst the keepers explained the different types of fish that they were being fed, and how they varied in fat and protein content.
We were told that the penguins were in their breeding season, and that both breeds will form breeding pairs, but sometimes they will form same sex pairs, and when this happens, they will put a dummy egg in the nest to help the penguins train to for the next pairing that they make. Gentoo penguins create nests out of rocks, as that the only material that they have available, excluding ice. Kings just rest the eggs on their feet and tuck it into their bodies.
Both males and females of each breed share the responsibility of looking after the eggs and chicks when they are born. The chicks grow very rapidly from newborn to adult, normally taking about twelve weeks.
Once the feeding had been completed, we were invited to kneel on the ice and that is where the fun really started. This was the whole reason that Lilian asked to go on the Penguin Adventure, as she just wanted to pat a penguin. She really wanted to little ones, but I feel that this was a better experience.
One of the Gentoo Penguins came up and insisted on being the centre of attention, but I think that he was just trying to con more food out, as he did not want to be touched. Once he had finished being a show-off then the correct penguin took the position, and we were able to pat her and the photographer was there to take the happy snap.
Shark Bay
This was the last exhibit that we attended, and it was a treat, it was full of all sorts of marine life, ranging from multiple types of rays, sharks, turtles, as well as a large range of marine fish, from dories to bream.
