My Trip to San Diego: Day Three

July 2, 2010

Today I went to Sea World. I was all tired and bleary when I woke up. I was jolted awake when I splashed cold water onto my face. I then went to Subway to get a hamburger and set off to Sea World.

We went into Sea World a few minutes earlier. MISTAKE. We were stuck there in the middle of the U.S.A anthem; it was an awkward situation since I didn’t even know the words. If I didn’t, well, so didn’t my parents. So we were acting all polite and we took off our hats, and lip-sang. I bet we looked really pathetic, with the suitcase and us not even knowing the words. We also had to wait there a little more because we were too early and the only thing that was open was the Skytower, and it was nothing fancy at that. After waiting a few minutes, everything finally opened.

First thing we went to was the Wild Arctic. That was a ride. It was actually pretty fun, but it was too short in my point of view. It was an imitation of a helicopter ride through the “wild arctic.” When we got off, it was really chilly. It was cold, but a good change from the boiling hot outside. I was chilled to the bone at the end, but it was worth it. I got to see all sorts of animals I wouldn’t see everyday. For example, I saw a walrus, and I also saw a polar bear. It was so close that it my hand could penetrate the glass, I could have touched it. I wanted to reach out and stroke it. Then, we walked out into the piercing and blinding light. We stood there, trying to adjust to the light. When I finally adjusted, I walked toward the penguin exhibit. There, I saw two dozen penguins either wobbling around or gliding in the water. They looked so cute and innocent that I wanted to pick one up (well, they were right in front of me, it wouldn’t be hard to just scoop one up would it?) and cuddle it. We then advanced toward the Penguin Encounter. In there were 300 penguins! There were ones basking in the dim light, others were waddling around, and yet, others were gliding -flying- in the water. We advanced on and saw some peculiar penguins. They flap their wings in water, adding a burst of speed into their already fast gliding. They looked like small pelicans, except their beaks were way smaller. They had bulking bodies, yet they didn’t see affected by it at all. We then forged on to the shark encounter, which wasn’t a far walk from here. When we went in, we were engulfed in a tunnel and there were sharks swimming around us. I thought: if one of the pipes break, we are in HUGE trouble! I bet one of the sharks would eat us! Gulp! It wasn’t a pleasant thought…

After that exhibit, we passed the stadium for Sea Lions Rock! and we also passed the freshwater aquarium. We stayed a little while to see the flamingo cove, but we had already seen flamingos at the San Diego Zoo and had no intention of seeing it again. We then made our way to Forbidden Reef, where I stayed and petted the San Diego bat rays until we had to go. The rays were really adorable and so silky. They rippled under your hand, like soft sand sliding off your fingers. One seemed to always come to me. I recognized it because of the scar right over its eye. Whenever I came, it would find its way to me. It was almost as if it knew me, and identified me! Once it came, it stayed. It would stay there until I had to leave. Then it would glide away, as graceful as ever. We had to leave because it was our turn to feed the dolphins at the Rocky Point Preserve. We bought two batches; that meant that two people could feed the dolphins. I wanted to feed them, and so did my dad. We fed them these small fishies and we also got to pet them. The dolphin felt cool against my skin, but at the same time strong. It was silky, but it didn’t flow. It was a hard silky. It felt as if all the fleshy part had hardened and the only thing that was left was muscle, with a silk covering. It was an interesting texture. Also, there was this bird that kept on wandering over to me. I guess it was watching for any dropped fishies, but none fell. I really didn’t care about what kind of bird it was, but now that I really ponder about it, I think that it was a heron. It had the long legs, the sharp beak, and the white sleek feathers. It was a white bird, and it looked kind of cute, although the eyes were beady. Its wings were long and powerful looking. We then went to the Shipwreck Reef Café. There, we purchased these bracelets that allowed us to eat anything for free, and our family ate constantly, we thought it was a good idea to buy one of these. What we thought was true. Then, I ate this shrimp salad thingy. Boy, didn’t it taste good! I loved it! After that, we traveled all the way down to the Pets Rule Stadium. It was a wonderful show, and I loved it. It was about what animals do in their backyards. At the beginning, two dogs raced, and the one I was cheering won. It was a golden retriever. My dad and I sat in a wet zone deliberately, because I wanted to get cool- I was burning up. However, my mom decided that she would sit in the shady area, because this place had too much sunlight. Yes, it was hot, but a small price to pay for the great view and getting wet. Besides, it all dried up after a few minutes, so the wet feeling was momentary. Then, all the dogs, pigs, and cats performed tricks and then the show ended. We then went the California Tide Pool. There I touched some star fish. They are really light and they have a scaly top shell. They can suck really strongly, and they attached themselves to my hand. However, I wasn’t really impressed because I found plenty of star fish at Second Beach. Therefore, we quickly moved on. By that time, it was time to watch the Blue Horizons show. We quickly walked to the stadium and got decent seats. We learned that there was a soak-zone, a wet-zone, and then a normal zone. We sat in the normal zone in fear of getting soaked, but we had no need to worry. We were relatively safe from the waves, higher up in the stands. Blue Horizon was a play about a girl named Marina that has a vivid imagination. Her imagination sets the stage with crashing waves, extravagant birds, graceful dolphins, and humongous pilot whales. It was an amazing show full of dolphins and a meaningful story plot. This play was performed in the totally renovated Dolphin Stadium. After we watched that, we still had a lot of time left till our next show started, so we went to Forbidden Reef again and pet the bat rays again. No matter how many times I pet then, I don’t think I could have gotten enough of the bat rays. If it were possible, I think I would have even enjoyed taking the bat rays as a pet, but it wasn’t possible. It was the same old petting, but then one thing was different. This time, I even fed the rays. At first, I thought that they would suck up my hand, so I made my dad do it first. When it submerged attached to the wrist all right, I decided that I would try it for myself. I took a fish between my two fingers and I put it on the ocean floor. Pretty soon, a bat ray came and sucked it out of my hand. My hand survived. I tried it again and again until I was out of fish. My mom graciously asked if I would like her to buy me some more, but my replied with a no. After petting them for a few more minutes, my dad said that we had to move on if we were going to watch the Shamu: Believe show. Of course I wanted to watch, it, but I was torn between the two. I wanted to pet the bat rays and stay there for endless hours at end, at my heart’s content (I swear that I could stay there for the whole day and just spend the day petting and feeding the rays), but I also wanted to meet and see the famous killer whale that was at the San Diego Sea World. Finds out, there are three killer whales, but there is still only one Shammu. Maybe the other two are back ups, or maybe even side kicks! Just like Mukmuk in The Olympics! We took a risk and sat in the soak zone, and luck was on our side. We didn’t get soaked at all, yet the row right in front of us got utterly soaked! I caught a girl looking wistfully at us and asked the mom in a tiny voice: “WHO said that we should sit here?” and then shot an intense glare (seriously didn’t know that a kid’s eyes as small as her could be so full of hatred!) at her sister. All I could do was chuckle inwardly. However, a tiny smile slipped onto my lips, so I quickly diverted my attention to the show, hopping she didn’t see it. Finally, the show was over. We went out of the stadium. Then, we went somewhere to eat. After that, my mom persuaded me (HUGE MISTAKE!) that it would be FUN to go on the Shipwreck Rapids. UMM. HMMM. YOU tell me how dire the situation was. So we went on the ride. We stood inn the HUGE line and finally boarded the raft. In the line, my mom kept on saying that it wouldn’t be too wet, after all, only a few people (more like MOST if them to me) were coming up soaked and ringing out their shirts from the water. Huh. So we went on the ride. The first few seconds were fine. Sure. You could say that. Then buckets of water were pouring down my shirt. Ya, the cost of believing my mother. Actually, it seems too harsh a punishment for that even! So at the end, my WHOLE BOBY (emphasize whole) was soaking. Bad luck? I DON’T THINK SO! Luckily, I had a spare dress and spare pants, too. Undershirt? Didn’t wear. Underwear? Don’t even ask… (although I did kind of wear some). Now rate it in dire situation – I would rate it a 99.999999… out of a 100. Of course, it could be worse (Hmmm. Thrown off the raft?), but only barely. Then we ate lunch, pet the bat rays some more, and then we head home. So that is all about my amazing day at Sea World. Overall, I would rate it a 99 out of 100, but only because of the Shipwreck Rapids water incident. It was a fairly good day and it was fun. Now it is time to sleep off my weariness and prepare for the long day tomorrow. Maybe it will get a 100 out of 100!