Loro Parque - 12th April 2012

So today was Loro Parque day :D. Shooted on over to the dolphin stadium. Ran up top to get my first glimpse of the orcas. Saw bubby Adan and Morgan in the med pool :). Keto, Kohana and Tekoa were together and Skyla was in the show pool.
We then watched the dolphin show. There were 7 dolphins and the highlight was the baby. The baby wasn't involved in the show, just swimming around getting in the way every now and then, bless it x3.
After the show I ran on round to the Orca stadium to grab a seat by the slideout. Skyla was in the show pool being a 'show off' as Mum put it :P. She was pretty much non-stop sliding out. All the adults were in the show but not at the same time, and they did a feature for Morgan at the beginning.
After the show we then checked out all the other animals - parrots, sloths, chimps and the tree tops which had a fun bouncy bridge lol. We ate and then saw the penguinis. The rockhoppers were jumping through the water which was pretty cool :). There were lots of lizards running around the park which I loved!
Also saw the Gorillas and Sea Lion show, then to the aquarium, saw weeny tortoises and the white tigers.
Watched the Orca Show again. It was the Skyla Show for most of it! But I think the other three did appear (maybe not Kohana?). On the walk back we saw 2 weeny baby marmosets on the back of mamma, so cute! And there was also a sloth hugging another one, awww!

SeaWorld Texas - 27th December 2011

Yeahh, so SeaWorld, woot :D! We got to the park when it opened at 12. Pretty much went straight round to the meet point for our 1pm Dine :).
Yeahh, so did our Dine With Shamu. Oh man I was slacking majorly with my orca knowledge. Thought there were only 5 (forgot about Keet!) and didn't realise it was Unna's 15th today! But yeah in the main pool was Tuar and Ky. In the med pool, Keet was chilling and Takara and Sakari were going in and out of pools, causing a splash. Think Unna was in the show pool the whole time.
But yeah, so we had a buffet and then the trainers talked a bit. They didn't get Tuar and Ky to do much, just some slideouts, head shakes, tail waves and pec waves, not really any show behaviours.
Afterwards checked out the conservation center. Saw a very active albino python and mousebird! Saw the penguins and a very baby chinstrap chick, awwh. Was gunna go to the Azul Show but it was packed out so skipped that.
Then it was onto my Beluga dip! Watched a vid and got suited up. First Luga we had was Emac, a 23 year old. Did the standard rub down, touched his melon, fed him and got him to 'jump', wave and splash. Then we had Martha, an older girl. She doesn't like rub downs but we got to touch her melon and feed her. I instructed her to a speed swim and wiggle her melon. We got photos with her, and then at the end got splashed by the girls. We literally werent in the water for long which sucked, like 20 mins :(.
After the Lugas we went round the rest of the park and checked out the Sea Lions, Dolphins and aquarium.. argh I really hate Dolphin Feeding pools. Some morons kept teasing them >:/.
We went to the Azul Christmas Show and Miracles Show. Eh it was average,  pretty sure the same as 2 years ago, but Sakari was too adorable. When they got her to dive around the pool alone, she looked tiny, but when she did a slideout she actually looked quite big! Bless her. Pretty sure all 6 were used in the show, at one point 5 were in the pool!

Marineland France - 3rd June 2011

Went up to Marineland in the morning again! Headed straight to the dolphins, but it was flooded by the viewing area, so I didn't get to interact with them at the glass, gutted :(
So spent most of the time watching Wikie and Moana. Caught the 12pm orca show. Same as last time really. Watched Wikie and Moana some more. Moana was mostly in the back pool by herself. Sometimes Wikie would come in, and I really think she was trying to lead Moana through the gate into the other pool, but she just wouldnt, bless her.

Marineland - 1st June 2011

Woo, so today was Marineland Antibes day!
Went to the Sea Lion Show first - that was dreadful. Then saw the Dolphin Show. Managed to catch a bit of Freya's, Val's and Inouk's training session. Omg, Inouk is tiny! I really can't believe it. He's practically 10 years old, and still has a baby dorsal, fins and flukes, aw!
We then saw the new polar bears. Very cool. And finally saw little baby Moana! Aww, she's so cute! And so orange! And wow, I couldn't believe how independent she is! Was swimming off away from Wikie alot! And little Moana was playing with a leaf on her nose, aww.
Me and mum then went and ate. There were some cute cats on the roof of the cafe, awh. After eating, went to see the polars again. Then caught the orca show. No water works :/ but atleast they had the birth video.
Me and ma then wondered around the rest of the park - saw the penguins, sharks, aquarium and massive Stellar Sea Lions. After seeing the dolphin show, went to watch Moana again. This time she was with Inouk and Wikie. Freya and Valentin were doing another training session. Inouk and Wikie were separated from Moana to be fed, so a trainer played with her. I then went round to the dolphins at the glass. Omg it was the best time ever. No one was around, so I got out my orca stuffy. There were 4 in the pool, and I managed to get them all to come over. I held the stuffy to the glass and the dolphins were looking at it, had their mouths open and blew bubbles. It was so damn cute! One swam away, but the other 3 were pretty interested. I managed to get them to shake their heads too :) Haha one of them was even interested in the paper bag lol. I also got them to follow the orca along the glass and change windows. So cool. I interacted with them for atl east 10 minutes, before we went! And the reason for that was because they started splashing us, lmao cheeky dolphins!

SeaWorld Texas - 23rd October 2010

So went down to SeaWorld!
Went to the Azul Show. After we went to the Shamu Stadium. Takara and Sakari were in the show pool, and Takara was at the glass spitting on kids and Sakari was copying her, aww x3
We watched something new called The Shamu Story, which told the story of Namu and the original Shamu which was really cool. Ky and Tuar were in the show, and they actually told everyone their actual name, when their birthday is and how big they are! I was impressed!
We went round all the exhibits and watched the Beluga story, Sea Lion show, and Halloween Killer Whale Show. I was kinda bummed it was just Tuar and Ky in the show again, no baby Sakari :(. But they played Bring Me to Life which was rad hahaa.

SeaWorld Texas Career Camp - July 2010

5th July 2010 - Killer Whales
-We got let into the stadium before the Orca show. Ky and Tuar were just logging whilst the trainers talked and they were then called to the glass and we got a group pic with them :). A target session was then done with Ky, to get him to unlearn opening his mouth to the target. Sakari and Takara were then let in. Aw she's so cute x3. Ah yeah, and we got splashed/soaked by the boys hahaa.
We then watched the show, left stadium side, infront of the slide out. We were on Shamucam pre-show :). Show was okay. But Sakari was in it, d'aww.

8th July 2010
-We then all got led to Shamu Rocks. That was SO good. 100x better than Believe. So much energy etc. And ahh Sakari, freaking love her x3.

Trip Report and Beluga Interaction Programme - SeaWorld Texas - 30th December 2009

Wuhay. We went to SeaWorld today. Finally done all the SeaWorld's!
Hm, this one had the least there tbh. There's a dolphin feeding pool. God, there was this really fat dolphin, t'was huge! But there was a Wolphin! That was pretty rad. A false killer whale/dolphin hybrid I presume. But yeah, I hate the whole feeding concept. I didn't participate.
Yeah, there's also sea lions, horses, alligators, otters, penguins, fish and rollar coasters. The beluga habitat was under construction apparently, so no show.
The only show there really was, was Shamu stadium. Me, mum and Dave got a seat right infront of the right slide out. The show was Miracles rather than Believe. Lool there were all these pre-show carol singers.
Yeah, so in the show were Unna, Tuar, Keet and Kyuquot. Weirdly no Takara. Tuar mostly and Keet were used on our side of the slide out. I noticed Tuar had what looked like a new cut across his right eyepatch. And there looked like blood came out of his mouth, at the start of the show. Weird huh? Maybe it was fish...?
Huh, the show was alright. Thankfully we didn't get wet :P. So after the Shamu show I did a Beluga Interaction Programme :). We went round the back of the Viva stadium and saw the Pacific White Sided Dolphins. There was a really young calf too, so cute! So we got wet suited up, there was a group of 4 of us, and we got divided into 2's. I was weith a girl called Kristen. Our 'luga's were Oliver, Sikku and Luna. Sikku was Oliver's mom, Oliver was only about 2 and Luna was 9. OMG the water was freezing! Lol.
We got to do plenty of rub downs and tossing fish. It was alot of fun, we got to make them wave, sing, splash, find tickle spots, 'walk like a dolphin' and 'cat walk' and photo opportunities - like a kiss from a 'luga, holding their fin and posing. There was also a few in-water encounters. I had to step off the ledge, hold on to Sikku's pecs and she spun me around. It was rad :). And I layed on my front and back and kicked and the 'luga coped too.
At the end, both groups combined to say bye and the 'lugas completely soaked us lol. And there was this young baby, Keano?, having his own session and kept knocking around a bit lol.
Yeah so after the encounter, I got dressed, picked up the photos and then left!

Dolphin Watching - Galveston - 2nd August 2009

Place: Galveston, Texas
Date: 2nd August 2009
Boat name: Harbour Tour
Who was on trip: Me, Mum, Dave
Wildlife seen: Bottlenose Dolphins, Pelicans, Seabirds

At 3pm, we went on the Harbour Tour. Tis a boat that show recks and oil cranes about the harbour. But we saw dolphins =)! There was a long crater ship, that we were riding alongside and in the bow wave of the crater was roughly 3 bottlenose dolphins =). A few did some leaps which was cool.
The boat then took us away from the crater, back into the Harbour.

Pics here: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/575561615qFIzLV

Swimming with Dolphins - Mediterraneo Marine Park, Malta - 14th August 2008

Place: Mediterraneo Malta
Date: 14th August 2008
Species: Bottlenose Dolphin
Main Cetacean Name: Lucas
Other Cetacean Name: Estella
Trainer:
Time in pool: 30 minutes?

Eee, Golfiños swimming!
Me and mom had to wake up kinda early, and were then driven on a crazy death ride to Mediterraneo.
Anyways so we got there and I was scheduled for the 10am session. At 10am we had to be at the meeting point, to watch the presentation talk.
Once that was one, the 12 of us were given wet suit jackets and had to take showers.
Everyone was taken over to the dolphin lagoon, where we were split into 2 groups of 6. There was a french/italian group and I was in the younger group.
We got into the pool, and the first dolphin we had I think was named Estella? We were allowed to pet her. Then the make dolphin, Lucas, came over and we ended up having him =]. We were allowed to kiss him. He camr to me first, and I kissed him on the beak and went 'Mwah!' lmao. We were allowed to pet him, and did waving tricks.
Everyone then took turns to have an individual photo and give Lucas a command. My command was to make Lucas wave his tail. I think I kinda did it wrong, because the trainer made me do it with her lol.
We also lifted Lucas up, which I was waey about because I was beacause I was near his back end, and i think i may have touched his genitalia =S. We then had to swim out to a platform where we all leaned against, and Lucas came around to rest his head on our shoulder, and kiss him for a photo. Apparently I didn't kiss him long enough, so I got to kiss him at least another 2 times =].
I can't remember the entire order of the swim, but I think next was when both groups were given masks and we were allowed to swim out into the pool, and the dolphins swam around us. Because everyone had their heads in the water, watching the dolphins, there was a bit of bumping into each other lol. I even tried diving down to see them better. I was able to hear their clicks =]. That was quite a nice experience.
We then re-grouped and out group went to the other side of the pool. We had Estella. I noticed she had a longer beak than Lucas. Our group had to swim out into the middle of the pool, and make a circle with spaces for Estella to swim in between and past us. She swam past me, and I touched her =].
But during this task, we were given back Lucas. We then swam back, and were sent out in two's to spin around with our right arm in the air, so that Lucas would raise up and spin around too =]. Me and the little girl got to do that twice for some reason.
When we swam back we got to give Lucas a fish. Then I think that was about it, and the last thing was to make him wave.

Marineland France - 20th February 2008

Marineland! Damn, 4 years exactly since one of my first trips.
So we got there, roughly 10.20am, methinks. Mum booked me up for a Sea Lion encounter at 1.30 =].
So, headed straight for the orcas. I noticed the bottom section was all chained up, so I couldn't even get down to the glass for interactions - gutted! Wikie and Inouk were in the show pool, Valentin and Freya in the back, and Sharkane in the middle. The trainers came in, and got Wikie to do some moves, like her full flip and speed swim. Val was also being worked with, and involved in a backstage thing. I then lost mum - ha. Well she went off without telling me, so I went around to the dolphins. No one there, just me. I brought out my pink dolphin stuffie, and not long, the guys were at the glass =]. About 3 of them. They all came over, wide mouthed, looking at the stuffue, and rolling about abit =). I also trailed around the class and they followed. They then started to lose interest I think. They'd come over, look, then go away. So I got out a dolphin stencil thiny, which gained some interest back.
I then noticed alot of people at the orca stadium, So I went back. It was an educational show. I found mum! and sat with her. Well it was all spoken in French, but in English on the boards. About orca communication and stuff. They then 'proudly presented an extract of the afternoon show'. After the show, it was possible to have your photo taken with one of the orcas. Had to pay of course. I was first in que, and I had Freya =]. I had to lean against the glass, and the trainer made Freya pose wide mouthed, and with her tongue out =). I'm glad I got Freya.
We then had lunch - stone cold chips. We then went around the park, and at 1.20 went over for the Sea Lion interaction. It was me and a younger boy. We were taken into an enclosed room. They had trouble getting the right sea lions in :P. Both girls, both 14. One from Argentina, one from South Africa. The SA one was called Nelson, heh. So we had to pose a photo with Nelson, holding her flipper. I was taken to the Argentina one. I was told facts about her, fed her fish and made her wave. Then I got swapped to Nelson. I was allowed to stroke her, and again was told facts, fed ger fish, and got to give ger the clap signal, tell her off signal, but she wouldnt do the handstand one correctly. Instead she like held her flippers out heh.
So then it was over. Twas nice, and something different. The dolphin show was on next, so we ewnt over to that. I watched, no photos. There were 8 dolphins, and 2 young ones ^_^.
After the show, we hung about a bit, and then it was time where we could get our photos. I picked 2 Freya ones and a Nelson one.
It was time for the orcca show, we watched that and then we left the park.

Pics here: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562576663eKovIo