Shamu!

It's quite amazing to watch these killer Whales diving and swimming in the pool alongside their trainers! The whales are so BIG. As you can see the trainers are standing on the whales noses! The show was really good and although the Whales are so big, they're so gentle with the trainers, knowing each move they make (even the instructions to 'splash' the audience! To the delightful screams of children and adults as they get throughly soaked from the pool. Later on during the holiday we had a 'meal with Shamu'. This was a thrilling experience as we were able to talk to the trainers and get really quite close to the Whales while they performed their various moves for us, behind the scenes before doing their final show for the evening. The trainers get the Whales up each morning at 6a.m. and have them ready for action by the first show at 10.00. Obviously with 3 - 4 shows a day the welfare of these mammals is of upmost importance, making sure they are well fed, rewarded during each show and rested well in between each performance. Truely spectacular! Well worth seeing if ever you pop over to Florida.

Let's Cool Down with a 'Minnie's'

Just the ice needed as a treat during those hot afternoons, or just after lunch of course! These delightful ices are made with chunks of 'real' strawberries! Absolutely mouth watering and refreshing.

A 'U.S.A.' Starling

One of the birds which frequented the guests in the 'parks' was a native Starling. Their colours are quite similar to our Starlings and they are just as greedy! They were flying around the tables, landing on the tables, sitting on the beams of the roofs, and extremely noisy too!

The Ibis - in waiting...

....And here he is, the Ibis waiting for the crumbs to fall.

Ibis

This little cheeky little fella was waiting and waiting for someone to drop a few crumbs. He wasn't fortunate with us, but he nearly had away a sandwich which some unsuspecting family left unattended on a table whilst returning their tray to the collection point!

The Lonely Pigeon

Yes they even have pigeons here too!

Colourful Frogs

Well, we've been here before. Can you spot the little coloured frogs. We last saw some of these on our way back from Bournmouth in the Rain Forest in Reading. You need to look carefully as they are really tiny. Our son and daughter who came with us on this holiday hasn't seen these before!

Sea Dragons

It was interesting to read about the Sea Dragons and so I took the opportunity of getting a shot of the information about these wonderful creatures. Really fascinating, could spend quite some time watching them. A real relaxing time, very soothing! I was interested to learn that it is the males which give birth to their offspring!

Sea Dragons

These creatures look like seaweed, but are in fact Sea Dragons! They float around amongst the tropical fish quite camouflaged. In this particular display there were quite a few and it was only as your eyes grew accustomed to their shape did you start spotting the rest. There were some baby one there too.

Friendly Lizzards

During our holiday we came across many little lizzards, just like this one. you had to be quick in photographing it as any sudden movement sent it running into the foliage to take cover. They were really delightful.

Sea World, Florida

Whilst waiting for one of the rides we stood watching the beautiful flora. These baskets were actually floating, although they were tethered they were able to be blown by the gentle breeze! They were lovely.